Man Behind a Mask
by technochy
Summary: It's been a month since the war ended and Oz has decided to start it all over again. When the Gundams get involved, they learn Duo's biggest secret that even he'd forgotten and Duo is forced to kill the person he cares most about and that isn't Hilde.
1. Chapter 1

_Man Behind a Mask_

A/N: I hope you like this story, but just so you know I changed a bit of Duo's past, and unfortunately Endless Waltz never happened. This part starts when Duo is a kid, but trust we we'll get to the present I promise in part 3 I believe. I hope you take the time to read and review. This isn't my first fic, and if you notice any problems at all notify me in a review and I'll change it ASAP.

Disclaimer: We already know it, and as much as I hate to admit it :( I don't own Gundam Wing, but my ideas would just be wasted if I did, so i guess we have to rejoice over that.

Part 1 

"Another failure!" He screamed in anger looking toward the figure of a boy, no more than 10 years old. His face softened when he saw the boy smile and wave at him. "I guess we'll just have to try again."

For some reason he couldn't give up on the boy, he had to keep trying. Maybe one of these times he would pass the test, but that was very unlikely. The boy showed no natural talent for wielding such a powerful weapon.

"Duo." He said softly. "I want to try that one again."

Duo nodded, trying not to show how annoyed he was. They'd done this 100 times already! 72 to be exact, but Duo liked to exaggerate, it made him feel powerful. Again he climbed into the small pocket of the simple mobile doll in front him that he had just climbed out of 2 minutes ago.

"Ready?" The man asked.

Duo nodded and gave him the thumbs up sign. Soon he found himself fighting simulated enemies that he had seen 72 times before. Their strategies never changed they always had the same battle plan, but Duo didn't realize that. He stared at the screen and fought as hard as could, improving his tactics only slightly against his numerous opponents. He was outnumbered by 200 to 1, but still after this long he should be able to defeat such simple opponents.

"I think that's enough for today." The man said making another tally on his chart.

73 times! 73 times, and Duo could still not defeat his opponents! The priest would be disappointed, but the man had promised he would not give up...yet. Duo trudged home through the searing heat in deep concentration. He'd been doing simulated battles since he was 6, why was he still so bad at fighting? As Duo rushed angrily into his house and slammed the door as hard as he could, his brother Corey appeared out of nowhere.

"What are you looking at, Corey?" Duo snarled at his younger brother.

"Hey, hey, calm down. I have feelings too you know. After all I am eight years." Corey smiled heroically.

"And that means something to me?" Duo asked.

"Now that's not very nice!" Corey exclaimed. "It's apparent to everyone that you're failing that scientist's tests. Looks like priest's gonna be very disappointed when that old man finally decides to give up on you. Have you ever considered throwing in the towel?" Corey asked.

"What?" Duo stared at him.

"You know throwing in the towel, giving up, admitting defeat." Corey smiled again. "I know it sounds pretty lame but now it's beginning to seem like you're only option."

"What are you talking about?" Duo asked. "I'm not failing, besides who cares what he thinks? He's an odd priest, I mean what kind of religious figure would want their foster son to go to battle training?"

"Of course you're not, but we do look awfully alike and..." Corey stopped right there, "Well I suppose you're not interested after all you're doing quite well with that scientist."

"Of course I'm not interested...wait interested in what." Duo asked.

"Nothing really I just had an idea of how I could get you that job you seem to want so much. And it would hardly cost you at all...well money anyway. But you're gonna get it all on your own you're doing so well so I guess you're not interested." And Corey walked away, even though his brother kept calling him back, laughing all the way to his room.

Duo stared at the spot where his brother had just been with a shrug. He's right I can pass all on my own! I'll get that job, I'll be that pilot!" He screamed in his mind.

It was already getting late, but there was no need to go to bed. Duo didn't go to school anymore. His father was too intent on him getting that job. The church was fairly rich and his foster dad had even bought him a mobile suit battle simulator so that Duo could practice whenever he felt like it. Which seemed like a good idea after that little discussion with Corey a few hours earlier. He stuffed himself inside and started the simulation on level 200 difficulty. He had to beat this level! He had to get better! Otherwise Corey would be right and he couldn't stand the thought of that little kid being right when HE wasn't! Failure. Failure. Failure. Over and over again he kept getting the signal above his head telling him that he had been destroyed.

"If only this were a real battle, if I were in REAL danger maybe I could win!" He pounded his fist on the machine making the dent even deeper. Every time he failed he pounded that same spot with a slight hope that he could alter the machine somehow by doing it. But every time he failed once more, and eventually he got tired of it.

He settled back in his chair and sighed, "maybe some miracle will make me better."

Suddenly he turned to his left and glanced out the small circular window in the machines hull. Corey was standing there. Corey? How long had he been there? Had he seen every single one of Duo's failures? Duo sighed, now he's going to bother me...again.

"Hey, Duo, open up!" Corey pounded on the small hatch of the machine.

Duo obeyed, but he wasn't happy about it.

"Decided to throw in the towel yet? Isn't it pretty lame to get defeated 15 times in a row?" Corey grinned. "I mean for me it's about the lamest thing I can think of."

He had been there the whole time. But didn't he have school tomorrow?

"Go away." Duo growled.

"No, I wanna show you how it's done." Corey begged. "It's Saturday tomorrow bro." Corey laughed reading Duo's mind.

"Fine, you can try!" Duo snarled. "But it's not as easy as it looks."

"Really? I always thought it was. I've done a few of these simulations and you know the opponents aren't too bright. They're always using the same battle technique. Actually it's an old battle technique since there hasn't been a new one of these machines designed in 15 years." Corey smiled pushing the start button.

Duo gazed at him with his jaw open wider than seemed possible on his tiny mouth. Corey launched attack after attack on different areas of opponents and every time he came out with minor scratches to his mobile suit ready to attack the next oncoming wave of enemies until eventually none came.

Corey chuckled. "Not so easy huh? Now let's try it on level 400."

Duo could see sweat on his brother's forehead. This level was a little difficult for him. He was gritting his teeth as his opponent's missiles barely missed his mobile suit. Duo could tell Corey was enjoying himself. He was really comfortable in war. A missile struck him and he fell back against his chair as if he really felt the force of being hit. Unfortunately 1 too many missiles struck him, and he exploded.

"That's lame! I should have won!" Corey blurted out

"Wait I got it!" Corey screamed to his brother resetting the simulation. "I can't start with those mobile suits, they're less equipped than the ones to my right. I have to start there so I can take them out with my full energy and leave the weaker ones till the end. That's the only way to win!"

Duo stared at him. "What?"

"Sounded like plain English to me, let me try another language." Corey teased.

Duo's face suddenly turned sour. "You rigged this didn't you? You made it so that you would win!"

"Believe what you want but the God of Death didn't do anything." Corey said turning the machine back on.

Duo looked at him angrily. He knew Corey was telling the truth, that nickname said it all. He'd started calling himself that when he was 5, even before his first battle. At the time Duo and his parents had thought it was simply something he'd heard at school. Duo couldn't believe it, had Corey really known how good he was in these situations even before he was faced with one? Duo shook himself back to reality and watched with a soft smile as his brother did just what he said he would do. Win. Corey sat back in his chair with a soft smile on his face.

"You really are the God of Death." Duo said.

"What?" Corey stared at him.

"The reason the priest sent me to that scientist for that job. He must have seen some very high scores on this machine, and those scores were your's weren't they?" Duo sighed. "He thinks I'm the one with the gift, he thinks all the bad scores aren't mine. He thinks I have the talent, but it's you."

Corey bowed his head. "Maybe. But even if that's true we can't tell him. It would dishonor him if you weren't the talented boy he thought you were, that you're supposed to be."

"But what can we do?" Duo asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we should just give up and tell him, even though that'd be a really lame end to the story." Corey said.

Duo laughed, "Yeah it would be." He agreed. "But you'd get the recognition you deserve. You should be the one not me. Honesty is the best policy."

"I'm not so sure about that." Corey sighed as he exited the simulator. "Not in this situation anyway."

Duo nodded and whispered softly in agreement "I know."

A/N: Well that's part one, part 2 is coming shortly I promise not to keep you guys waiting. Hope you liked it so far, and if you find anything confusing it will all make sense as the fic progresses, but I'd be happy to answer questions (that I'm not answering in future parts) I had my friends read it as betas and they've been begging me to put it up on so now that I've finished writing all 21 parts it's up and running. Again I hope you enjoyed, but if you didn't please don't give up on my fic just yet ï 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Ok I know I haven't gotten reviews because there is a new character in this story, but please give this a chance. My friends were fighting over who got to read it first after the first few parts they were hooked! You can skip these 2 chapters if you want, but the end might not make much sense if you do. You can always read over them when you get to the end :) Please give this story a chance, trust me you won't regret it! Part 2 

2 days later. Another training session. Another day of failures was passing by. Duo had hardly noticed the change of days since Friday with Corey. It had been stupid for him to believe that the priest sending him to this…, this laboratory was purely by coincidence. He should have realized that there were reasons the priest believed he was so good. If only he'd realized sooner he could have changed this. He could have stopped this before it started. He was rather distracted by his thoughts and hardly paying attention to the screen, but he was improving slightly. It was a minute improvement he could beat level 30 now, probably because he'd watched Corey in action.

"Duo you're better." The man said when Duo climbed out of the simulator.

"Whatever." Duo said angrily. "I still can't live up to your expectations or my foster father's!"

The man nodded but ignored the comment, "Let's begin level 32 now I want to skip 31."

Duo nodded and again climbed into the simulator. Enemies from all directions overwhelmed him, his fighting skills seemed inadequate to defeat his opponents, but he couldn't stop trying! The simulation ended and the man called his name.

"Duo, come here I want to talk to you!" The man called.

But Duo ignored him. He turned the simulator back on over and over again pounding his fist on the panel in front of him after every defeat. He'd now made a sizeable dent on this machine too.

The man sighed as he watched his pupil struggling with himself. "The poor kid." He thought silently as he called Duo's name over and over again. "He's fighting himself, not his simulated enemies." The man shook his head, and settled into his chair. Duo was the kind of kid you just had to let do what they needed. And this was definitely something Duo needed to do. It was no use calling his name because until he felt he was good enough to stop he wouldn't. Why did that priest send him to me in the first place?

Duo pounded the machine one last time and stopped, a tear slipped down his cheek. He began to sob; he was worthless! The man came over to the machine and poked his head inside sensing the tension in the air. He sighed.

"Duo, go home you've done enough today. Keep practicing; I want a large improvement on Thursday. Do you understand?"

Duo nodded, and slipped out of the machine. "I understand. I'll do my best." And he walked away.

Remembering the events 2 nights ago, Duo thought to himself "Maybe I should get my own nickname, God of Death sounds good to me." And he thought about it the entire time he walked, and just before he reached the door he decided his brother's nickname was perfect for him.

Corey greeted him when he walked in the door. "Didn't go well, huh?" He said noticing his brother's red face.

"What do you think!" Duo roared. "I'm a failure!"

"No you aren't!" You're good in other things.

"Like what?" Duo asked.

Corey stared at the ground. "I don't know because you never try anything else!"

"Exactly." Duo said. "I am a failure."

"No, but anyway I have a plan I know how this can work out. How you can get the job." Corey said.

"How?" Duo asked.

"First off, you have to trust me. We'll take this a little at a time." Corey explained.

Duo nodded, "Fine. What first?"

"Let me go to your training session on Thursday, that way you will have a big improvement and the scientist guy will keep you longer. We look so similar no one can tell the difference. The priests haven't even taken the time to learn our personalities." Corey said.

"Where are you going with this?" Duo asked.

"Just trust me, Duo, it'll work." Corey smiled.

"Whatever." Duo said, happy to get out of a session, even if it was just one.

"Great!" Corey said and he turned away towards the basement.

"Where're you going?" Duo asked impolitely.

"To put some high scores on that simulator for you." Corey explained.

Corey headed out of the house nervously, he knew the plan would work; it was foolproof. But nevertheless he was nervous about going to the training session. His brother had taken his place at school; Duo liked school a lot more than he liked training to be a mobile suit pilot. Corey wasn't afraid that the scientist would realize he wasn't Duo either, since Duo had rarely talked in the past to the scientist.

"Ah, Duo come in." The man greeted him with a smile.

Corey didn't reply, he just headed straight to the simulator.

"If you can get past level 50 we can move on to the other tests." The man said.

Corey nodded before getting into the machine.

"Ready?" The man asked.

"Yup." Corey replied.

"You're in a good mood, I'm glad to see that." The man smiled.

"Yup." Corey replied and started the simulator.

At first he purposefully got defeated a few times, and then he won level 32. The man, whom Corey had heard was a scientist, seemed overjoyed that he'd beat the level. It meant another day or so he could keep trying to train him.

"Duo, let's do the next level now." The man said.

Corey didn't respond, he just turned to the next level and began. Failure. Failure. Failure. "

"Too many failures!" The man thought, but suddenly to his amazement Duo had beaten the level. "You've improved!" He called out to Corey.

Corey smiled. He was giving his brother a good name.

By the end of the session Corey had gotten past level 50, and had been started on a physical test. He passed everything quickly, and the man seemed both proud and confused. How could he have improved so much? But that didn't matter, all that mattered was that he had improved.

"Duo I think you'll make a fine pilot." The man said. "There shouldn't be a need for more than 2 more sessions. I'm going to teach you how to work one of the most powerful mobile suits ever created!"

Corey nodded and left the facility. All that was left to do now was the hard part. It was 90 degrees out, but still Corey shivered in fear at the thought of what was going to come. He cried on his way home because he was going to have to do the most painful thing of his life, and Duo's.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Still don't own it, but maybe I convinced my parents to get it for me as a christmas present.

A/M: I know you guys haven't reviewed, except of course my real life best friend who has read the whole story and knows how good it is.So trust Miss Peeps, and keep reading. And you won't evennotice that I changed Duo's pastnow because we're in the present aka right after the war after a short excerpt from the past. Please trust me this gets much better.

Part 3

"This is Gundam 02," The man explained to Duo.

"Where's Gundam 01?" Duo asked.

"I just like the number 2 more," The man laughed.

"Oh." Duo said. "It wasn't a failure? You just decided it didn't exist?"

"That's right." The man said, "Now you'd best be off. Operation meteor will start soon."

Duo nodded.

"I can hardly believe the day has come, where you, Duo Maxwell, will pilot my Gundam and save earth and the colonies. It's hard to believe I've been training you this long for all these years." The man said.

"Yeah, I know you just can't think that I've grown up so much that I can now be on my own fighting in the big war." Duo said.

"You're still a kid Duo, don't overdo it." The man said.

"I know." And with that Duo launched off to join operation meteor.

A.C. 195, 1 month after the war ended.

"Duo!" Hilde called.

"Wha?" Duo asked sleepily turning over in his bed.

"Duo, did you forget I was coming over today?" Hilde asked.

"Not until 11:30." Duo yawned and turned over to go back to sleep.

"It is 11:30." Hilde replied.

Suddenly Duo's head shot up, "what?"

"It IS 11:30" Hilde repeated. "In fact it's 11:42!"

"Man!" And I was in the middle of a good dream too. "Hilde go relax on the couch downstairs I'll get dressed an be down real soon."

Hilde nodded and attempted to stifle a laugh, finding a sleeping Duo when he was supposed to be awake was almost worth it just to see him in those pajamas. He'd bought them as a treat for himself 2 days after the colonies declared peace with earth, even though Hilde had tried to talk him out of getting them.

"He's just too stubborn." She shook her head and turned towards the stairs still giggling.

"Hey Hilde, I was already going to have breakfast ready and everything, but I…" Duo called from his room.

"You overslept, I know, and don't worry I already took care of that, breakfast has already been served!" Hilde said.

"I guess we'll have a late lunch, huh?" Duo offered as if she needed to be cheered up because he did something very bad.

"I guess so, and a late dinner, and probably a late breakfast tomorrow, and gee the cycle never ends!" Hilde agreed. "But hey it's better that you overslept, I mean if you hadn't we'd probably be eating something YOU prepared and that would be a waking nightmare!"

Duo laughed nervously. He knew she didn't mean that, in fact she found his cooking absolutely marvelous. So marvelous in fact that she'd enrolled him in a cooking class, and his last class had taken place the night before.

"Sorry bout the wait, Hilde. Cooking classes ran late last night and…" Duo began.

"You don't need to explain Duo, and about those cooking classes I just thought you should find something to do with your life now that the war is over." Hilde said.

"No explanation needed, although I was wondering." Duo smiled.

Suddenly Hilde was tossed to the floor like a rag doll and banging her head on a small table and Duo was forced to grab onto the stair rail in order to keep from tumbling down the flight of stairs. He watched in horror as Hilde fell, hit her head, and fell limply to the carpet.

"Hilde!" He screamed horrified, in a girlish tone that didn't sound at all like him.

He ran to Hilde's aid, and found that she was awake.

"Ow." She complained. "What was that?"

"I don't know but you might want to get that head of yours examined." Duo said.

"No, really, it's fine, after all if that was as bad as it felt I'm probably no the worst of the injuries and we don't want to tie up the doctors." Hilde pleaded.

"You're probably right." Duo shrugged knowing that the only reason she'd said that was because the local doctors frightened her.

As Duo helped Hilde to her feet, someone frantically began knocking on the door.

"Duo are you all right?" A voice asked from outside.

"Quatre?" Duo asked, "What're you doing here? And ya Hilde and me are fine."

Quatre opened the door and peered inside. The first thing he saw was Hilde rubbing her head with a pained expression on her face.

"What brings you here my friend?" Duo asked.

"I was coming here to tell you before that explosion…" Quatre began as he approached Duo and Hilde's location. "Oz has regrouped. There are enough followers again, everyone who opposes peace that…the explosion…Duo Oz has started the war again!"

"What?" Duo looked dumbfounded.

"They have a new leader." Quatre continued. "I feel like we should go out and finish what we started. Our orders were to defeat Oz."

Duo nodded, "What about the others?"

"I don't know." Quatre replied sorrowfully.

"Leave it to me buddy." Duo said. "If you can find Wufei and talk some sense into him I can get Heero and Trowa back on our side. Heero will come; he'll feel the same way about Oz. Trowa and Wufei will be harder."

Quatre nodded, "That's why I came here first. You and Heero are the only ones I know will join me."

"Looks like the God of Death is back again!" Duo said as he began to search for the small piece of paper with Heero's phone number on it.

"Quatre perhaps you better go look for Wufei, you'll have you're hands full, Duo and I can handle the others." Hilde suggested.

"You're right." Quatre replied with a smile and turned to leave. But he turned back to say one more thing, "Duo we all kept our Gundams, I know that just…be careful. Oz will start looking for us; we're a threat. The only real threat they have."

Duo nodded, and slowly Quatre turned once more to leave.

"Hilde you look down here, I'll look upstairs." Duo quickly sprinted for the stairs.

"What exactly am I looking for?" Hilde asked.

"You'll know it when you see it." Duo said.

"Thanks for the vivid description!" Hilde said sarcastically, even though there was no time for jokes.

Hilde tried reasoning with herself. "Ok he has to talk to Heero and Trowa and he isn't very organized so what would he need to contact them? What would he have to ask them for in order to get in touch on a moments notice?"

"Of course!" Hilde blurted out loud, "Their phone numbers!"

"What?" She heard Duo call from upstairs.

"Nothing." Hilde stated and began to look under a large pile of newspapers that were several weeks old. Then she looked between every page of the newspapers before moving on to the little figurines Duo kept stashed in the corner of the kitchen in a drawer that was also filled to the brim with papers. She looked through a small file cabinet in Duo's office with a divider labeled 'Heero' and another labeled 'Gundam', but found nothing. She could only imagine that Duo was having just as little luck as she was upstairs.

"Find anything?" Duo begged.

"No, I'd have told you if I had!" Hilde called back.

"Right, sorry! I just hoped you know." Duo tried to explain.

"Duo, less talking more looking!" Hilde replied.

It took an hour of ruffling through drawers and clothes for Duo to finally find a crinkly, ragged, wet, and smudged piece of paper with several numbers on it in the pocket of one of his shirts.

"Hey, Hilde, I found it!" Duo called excitedly as he slid down the railing of the stairs.

"Duo, that's dangerous!" Hilde smiled as she watched him. "So what does it say?"

"Read for your self." Duo held the paper barely an inch away from her nose.

"Duo, when it's that close how am I supposed to read it?" Hilde exclaimed.

"No time for that now!" Duo replied, "Let's call Heero, he'll hopefull have Trowa's number too."

Hilde shook her head and sighed, "Right, Duo, go call him."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: To any of you out there who were actually looking forward to another chapter of my story and are just not reviewing (but thanks to my best friend for reviewing) I'll explain the lack of updates. You see my computer died and I've been waiting a week to get a new one. Luckily I saved my important Microsoft word documents on floppy disks and so I still have this story. Had I not done that I would be digging through piles of paper in an attempt to find a copy of the story so I could once again type it up on my comp. PLEASE REVIEW if you like or hate my story, I need to know how to improve it or if it needs improvement…and meeting with Miss Peeps and my other friends at our lockers to discuss my story isn't enough.

Part 4 

Quatre had a lot more luck locating Wufei than Duo had of locating Heero, because for one thing Heero was at work and no one was there to answer the phone. So for the moment Duo could only wait and hope that Heero returned home soon, or that Quatre had 10 times more luck with Wufei than expected. Quatre had found himself walking through the park a few minutes after he left Duo's place, and to his surprise he saw Wufei on one of the worn white benches in the very center of the park under a large tree.

"Wufei!" He called in relief.

Wufei looked up slowly as if he had been expecting an intruder in his personal space.

"What?" He asked.

"Wufei, Oz is back and…" Quatre tried to explain.

"I know, but our role in the war is over." Wufei leaned back against the seat "We were a part of that war, but it has ended. Our mission now is to hope they can overcome the new war without us."

"Our mission was to defeat Oz, and Oz hasn't been defeated." Quatre said. "Don't you understand that our mission has not been completed? We devoted our whole lives to this, we started training to be a mobile suit pilot when we were very young, and now we can't just sit back and watch Oz take over!"

"It's not the same Oz we were trained to fight. That Oz was broken when peace was achieved; this Oz has taken the opportunity to start a war. They don't want peace. The Oz we fought was also on the side of gaining peace, they just had their own way of doing so. This war is not in favor of the Colonies or Earth, and they have combined forces so they should be able to defeat Oz." Wufei explained calmly with his eyes closed as if in a dream.

"But Wufei, Earth and the Colonies discarded their weapons as a show of their peaceful intentions, they're defenseless without us." Quatre stated.

"Is that our fault? We did our best for them, and now it is up to them to gain back their peace." Wufei stated neutrally.

For the first time, Quatre realized that Wufei was right. It wasn't their place to fight this new enemy because this enemy was not looking for peace. But Quatre couldn't give up on what he'd set out to do, could he? Defeating Oz was the most important thing in his life, and now Wufei was telling him not to do what he knew he should. He couldn't give up on convincing Wufei of what they needed to do.

Quatre sighed, "Wufei I'm not going to leave this defenseless planet against an enemy they stand hardly any chance against! Don't you see, that's what we'd be doing if we didn't help them. Wufei this isn't about Oz anymore this is about our other mission, to protect the colonies because right now they need us more than ever!"

Wufei looked up at him with genuine concern etched on his face. "I know what you mean Quatre, but the people do not trust us. How can we fight for people who don't believe in us?"

"We did it before," Quatre shouted, "and you didn't complain then!"

"It was my duty." Wufei countered.

"Like it or not, this is your duty too. It's not going to wait for you to realize that, and even if you never do…if you never fight…I will. Duo will. And Heero too. Maybe even Trowa. Then won't you just feel silly for acting like this, Wufei this is the colonies we're talking about! This is maintaining peace! Relena won't be able to fight, neither will her followers, it's up to us! We're the only ones who can stop Oz before they start." Quatre stated through gritted teeth.

"I know it seems that way." Wufei sighed, "And maybe you're right. But until I'm shown that you are right I'll do nothing to change this war. You shouldn't either, but there's nothing I can do to stop you."

Wufei stood silently and picked a small purple flower from the grassy field, "No matter how much I may disagree with your decisions, Quatre, I wish you and the other Gundam Pilots good luck." He handed Quatre the flower and walked away slowly with his hands in his pockets.

Quatre stared in disbelief. "I wish you luck too, Wufei. Maybe you don't see it, but the colonies need you."

After standing for a moment he chased after Wufei. "Wufei listen to me, the Colonies and Earth don't stand a chance without weapons! No one believes in fighting anymore, they've all converted to a peaceful lifestyle. Do you really want to put all of your hard work to waste by condemning the colonies?"

Wufei paused momentarily, "I will aid them, jut not by fighting. We've had enough bloodshed, Quatre. Isn't it time we moved on with our lives? Heero is still getting over his wounds and Trowa still doesn't remember everything."

"Sally will be fighting." Quatre offered.

Wufei looked at his feet "She will manage. She may be weak, but I expect she will manage."

Quatre nodded, but Wufei refused to meet his gaze. He just stared limply at his feet as if they were about to do an amazing stunt.

"So that's it?" Quatre asked. "You're just going to walk away from the war because it isn't your problem? I can only hope that the 4 of us are good enough to at least slow down the new Oz; without you."

"See! Even you admit Oz is not the same Oz we were taught to fight." Wufei countered.

"That doesn't matter anymore, Wufei, I'm just frightened I guess. This is exactly how the last war started, it could happen all over again, and I don't want that." Quatre frowned.

In his mind, Wufei began to doubt his own actions. "I will be there if I'm needed, but until then I see no need to fight for the safety of people who don't care whether I'm alive or not." He finally suggested.

"That's all I could have asked," Quatre sighed, "But that isn't all I can do. I can't just sit back and watch these people destroy themselves again. I'm going to take action."

Wufei nodded, "Tell the others that I'm not going to fight…not yet anyway. Tell them that you are on your own."

"I'll do that," Quatre said, "but I wish I didn't have to."

"There's nothing more you or I can say or do. It's time for us to go our separate ways. May I see you on an honorable battle field." Wufei agreed.

Quatre couldn't speak. For some reason the words wouldn't escape his throat. He felt numb, like he was going to vomit. Maybe Wufei was right that this wasn't an honorable battle field…at least not until they were needed. But Quatre couldn't think that way, he was supposed to be the sensitive Gundam pilot not the uncertain one. He took a sharp breath and headed back in the direction he'd come. Maybe Duo had better luck with Heero and Trowa, maybe not. Maybe it was only the 2 of them, but even then their odds were better than leaving the alliance to fend for themselves. He nodded approval at the thought and continued onward to Duo's place.


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5 After 5 or 6 phone calls every 10-15 minutes, Duo had finally managed to get hold of Heero who had just gotten home from work and had rushed to the phone. When he got to the phone eh was completely and totally out of breath, and it took a few pants before he could finally say "hello" to whoever it was calling him at this absurd hour in the afternoon. He didn't know very many people who would want to call him, especially not 'just to catch up on things' so he expected this was very serious. He was still slightly shaken up from the explosion earlier that day, and he wondered if maybe this person knew what it was. "Hello?" Heero huffed. "Heero? Is that you, it's Duo." Or maybe it would just be another annoying conversation. "Mmm." Heero acknowledged that he had heard. "I bet you're probably wondering about that big explosion earlier, huh?" Duo asked with a cheerful laugh in his tone. It had been a month since he'd last talked to Heero. "You could say that." Heero agreed. "Ah, well I was too, till Quatre rushed in my door and told me everything." Duo continued. "Go on." Heero said becoming interested. "Apparently Oz has a few more followers left than we thought, and they've started a new war. I guess this time they aren't looking for peace." Duo laughed. "I imagine you could probably say that, too." Heero agreed. Duo sighed, "Quatre and I feel it's in everybody's best interest if we Gundam Pilots fight in this war. So whata ya say Heero? Are you gonna help us complete our mission or not?" 

"Why should I?" Heero asked hotly.

"Hey, hey, I'm not your enemy." Duo laughed. "I just thought you might want to complete our old mission again, you know protecting the colonies and defeating Oz."

"Hmmm," Heero sighed. "If the colonies need us, I'll be there." He said and hung up.

"That went better than expected." Duo said hanging the phone back up on the wall.

"You convinced him to fight?" Hilde asked.

"That guy knows what he needs to do, I didn't convince him of anything." Duo explained as Quatre burst through the door.

"Duo, Wufei won't join us." Quatre said.

"I always knew that guys independence would make him arrogant." Duo said.

"But Wufei is right. This isn't the same enemy we're supposed to fight." Quatre continued.

"Oh?" Duo was puzzled.

"Oz isn't fighting for peace, they're fighting against it." Quatre replied. "That's why Wufei won't fight, he says the enemy is different."

Duo grunted, "We can fight without him."

Quatre nodded. "But we have to protect the colonies, all 5 of us."

"Relena!" Noin called as she ran into the brightly lit room that served as an office for a very high-ranked official, but when she got there Relena was on the phone.

Quickly, she bowed as a sign of respect and an apology for so rudely barging in. Relena had barely picked up the phone and dialed the number before Noin had come in, after the 3rd ring, somebody picked up the phone.

"Mmmm." They greeted hoarsely as if expecting the call already.

"Heero." Relena smiled, though he couldn't see the gesture.

"Relena?" He asked curiously.

"Heero, you're not going to fight in this war are you?" Relena begged.

Heero didn't have to say anything if he didn't want to, if he wished not to discuss the subject Relena would respect that and drop the subject. "Perhaps," thought Relena, "he has no clue what war I'm talking about."

"The colonies need the assistance of the Gundam Pilots." But that was all Heero needed to say.

"Heero! How can you think of fighting? Earth and the colonies now stand for peace, we aren't interested in war." Relena exclaimed angrily.

"That's why the colonies need us, Heero replied. "Apparently not everyone feels the same way you do, Relena."

She stared blankly into space searching for a proper comeback, she couldn't think of any. There was no way she could have any influence on Heero because he had already made up his mind.

"Heero don't you understand!" Relena burst out, "If you fight…" but the line went dead.

Relena turned to look Noin, who now stood with her head bowed.

"Something I've already heard?" Relena laughed.

"It appears so." Noin agreed. "I'll be more careful next time I wish to speak with you…"

"No." Relena said. "You tell me nothing that isn't important, I wouldn't want to miss anything you have to say."

Noin nodded, and turned so she faced the door, but suddenly she paused. "What do you plan to do, Miss Relena?"

"About Heero and the other Gundam Pilots?" Relena asked. "I can't stop them from doing what they feel is right."

"Are you not even going to try?" Noin asked.

"I already have." Relena diverted her gaze to the floor.

"Isn't there anything else we can do?" Noin returned.

"As long as Oz is fighting the colonies, we can't stop the Gundams." Relena turned to a small window directly behind her. "It's such a beautiful day, Noin, why does Oz have to ruin it?"


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Ok so I have gotten no reviews and probably few people have read this, but those of you who enjoy it so far please review :)

Part 6 

The call had come from Duo and Quatre only 5 minutes previously, but Trowa was still shaking from the shock. Oz HAD been defeated in the war, how was it they were suddenly bouncing back? He sighed and looked at his modest surroundings, he didn't have much to show for all his hard work since the end of the war. A simple greenish couch in the living room, a table, chairs, bed, all the basic things that were needed to support human life and nothing more. He'd gotten a job as a waiter at a local restaurant, if it could even be called one. The place was in shambles, and though the owner had excess income he refused to repair anything. In the restrooms 5 of the 6 six stalls didn't work, and the ladies were just out of luck if they were looking for a restroom. The sink had a mysterious and annoying constant drip that kept you on the edge of your seat, literally. The kitchen was even worse, 2 of the 3 stoves had so much grime on them that in and of itself raised the pay considerably. So few people were willing to work under such conditions with such a man for a boss, that the hourly paycheck exceeded that of a monthly income at any McDonalds. If anything was cooked on those 2 stoves, the customer vomited soon after, which had clogged many of the toilets. Trowa expected a health inspector would come by soon just because there had already been 3 instances where a customer got Salmonella Poisoning from old beef.

Trowa laughed as he imagined his boss' reaction to a visit from a social worker. Although, if the place got cleaned there would be less money in his paychecks, and besides he couldn't be blamed for his boss' incompetence, could he? No, definitely not.

But as Trowa looked around at all he had accomplished in less than a month, he frowned. All of it would be for nothing, soon enough he'd be taking off to the skies again to fight another war. This war seemed less desperate than the last, probably because only 1 side really appeared to be looking for peace. Oz definitely wasn't. He'd probably be called again soon by another of his fellow gundams, just checking to make sure he was gonna fight, or not…as it was in Wufei's case. And what would Catherine say? She'd already tried to stop him from fighting once, after his memory loss, what would she say now if she learned he was doing it again? She was like family to him, and for all he knew they really could be related. He was an orphan and he had never taken the time to ask anyone about his past family. Catherine had told him many stories about how her great-grandfather had saved an entire colony with a wad of gum and a sticky note, and he couldn't help but wonder about his own great-grandparents who he didn't even know. He bowed his head as if paying respect, only to people he didn't even know.

Trowa would be ashamed of himself if he learned that Catherine didn't approve. She had been the first human he made a real connection with, his only true friend. He considered the other Gundam Pilots to be coworkers, mostly because of the uncertainty of whether they'd live to the next day during the war. Trowa never forgave himself for abandoning them when he got amnesia, although they told him time and again that it wasn't his fault. And for some reason Quatre even blamed himself. The only person who was ever adventurous to bring up the subject of Trowa's amnesia casually was Wufei, and even he seemed cautious about the subject around Trowa. Of course Trowa didn't know what happened when he wasn't around, but it was quite clear that the subject wasn't comfortable for any of them, even Heero.

"It probably reminds Quatre of what he almost did." Trowa said loudly, although he hadn't meant to. Through the thin, slippery walls Trowa's neighbors had probably heard him, and they probably weren't very happy about the disturbance.

It was now 11:00 in the evening and by that time 85 of the residents in the apartment complex were either asleep, getting into bed, or tucking their children into bed. Trowa was normally one of those people. But tonight with the stress of the new oncoming war, he felt too anxious to casually plop himself into bed. It was almost like there was something he had to do before he went to bed…but what? He set himself on his couch and flipped through the channels of his television, suddenly he came upon an interesting movie about, you guessed it, war. He sat and watched the movie and slowly as he sat there his eyelids fell shut and he drifted into a soft, uneasy sleep that would have easily been broken by nightmares, but he had none. And if that wasn't enough, he had no dreams at all, nothing to comfort or hurt him; an empty sleep of nothing.

Relena hadn't given up on getting a decent conversation with Heero, so the next day she'd called back. They'd argued back and forth, well Relena had, Heero had given 2 to 3 word responses and Relena had made an entirely new speech from them.

"But you're not like the others!" Relena shouted "you don't have anyone to prove anything to! Heero, Heero listen to me!"

Heero nodded, knowing she couldn't see.

"Heero say something!" Relena cried. "You don't have to fight, you said 05…Wufei isn't!"

"That's true." He replied.

Relena sighed, it was impossible to get ANYWHERE with such a one-sided conversation. "Heero I'm worried. It wouldn't be safe for you to fight."

"It wouldn't be safe for me not to." He stated, and it was the longest thing he'd said the whole conversation.

Relena blinked the surprise from her eyes, trying to think of an appropriate comeback. But there wasn't one, she was at a loss for words. The people would have laughed if they'd been asked if it was possible for Relena Dorlian to be at a loss for words. It had never happened before, and it wasn't ever going to happen, as far as they knew. But they knew very little about war and peace, heroism and bravery, cowardism and righteousness, Relena realized that now. She was just as blind as they were. Her actions were the course of a coward, but a coward was righteous were they not? Righteous people lived by their beliefs they did not fight.

Relena had taken so long to respond that Heero had grown worried, and for the first time he began the conversation. "Relena?"

"I'm a coward, Heero." She said.

"No you aren't." Heero said.

"Yes I am! And so are you, you couldn't even kill me!" She replied.

Heero stared at his feet. "It wouldn't have been right to kill you."

"But I was a threat! I might have tried to stop you." Relena countered.

"You did." Heero replied.

"Heero, do you really think getting involved with this war is the right thing to do?" She asked.

"Yes." He replied neutrally.

"Then I guess I can't stop you, but just remember until a person has an enemy the war has not begun." She stated.

"Mmmm." He replied, and he felt her hang up before the click actually came.

"Heero," She asked herself after abruptly ending the conversation, "do you really know what you're getting into?"

She stood from her chair, and walked around her desk with her hands respectfully placed together behind her back.

"Oh father, I wish you were here." She said as a tear slid down her cheek. "Maybe there really is no room for peace in this world, will there always be people who oppose the idea of peace?"

For the first time she thought back to the war and all the bad things she'd done and seen. The first time she'd ever held a gun, trying to get revenge on the person who'd killed her father…or at least the man she called "father". Suddenly she felt like, Janie, from a book she'd read as a child called "The Face on the Milk Carton" Because after all she had 2 families. They hadn't kidnapped her, technically, so she wasn't completely like Janie. Her biological father, Mr. Peacecraft, would probably be very disappointed by what she was doing and had done or maybe he'd be proud. She hadn't actually pulled the trigger, and she now felt no need for revenge so why was it that now she still felt like such a bad daughter? There was that whole incident with her asking Heero to kill her brother, but she hadn't known he was Millardo, had she? If she'd ahd the chance to see him without his mask before then would she have seen the family resemblance?

But she couldn't think about that now, Millardo had disappeared after the war. She hadn't heard from him or seen him since his duel with Heero. It had all happened so fast, even though in reality the war had lasted a year, that was much too fast for her. Everything she'd learned. Her parents, her brother, The Gundams, the death threats, the invasions, the trips to space, Dorothy, everything; it was all too much for a single year, too much for even 10. It was almost like a roller coaster, every hill was a new experience, and the end of the drops when you nearly were on the ground, the resting times where you could process what you'd learned, were much too short before going up the next hill.

Millardo was probably dead. Her only link to the Peacecraft life she'd never known was gone. Suddenly she heard her own voice, like a whinny little child "But that's so unfair." The words hardly seemed fighting, the voice didn't belong, she didn't even sound like herself, but then again who was she? She knew who she was now, but had she been that way as a little girl living with the Peacecrafts? And it was unfair, but what could she do about it? There had been so many promises made in the past that couldn't be kept, some that were simply broken through negligence. Even promises of her own that she had at the time known were impossible to keep. Was she just like the Oz organization that had vowed never again to start war? She couldn't bear the thought.

She'd only seen pictures of her now dead biological father, and only after the war was over. She'd been so young at the time, but wouldn't she have memories? Or maybe the memories were so horrible her brain had blocked them out, like some kind of shock her body had gone into, a lifelong state of shock that she couldn't escape…and didn't even want to. Relena was proud with the way her life had turned out, even if it had been with complete strangers she called "mommy" and "daddy", strangers that she loved more than her biological family. She hadn't spoken to her mother in a while; she'd needed some time to settle into her new role of peacekeeper…that was a precious opportunity. She hardly noticed the knock on the door, the sound as it opened, the tone of the voice that called out; but it was there nonetheless.

"Miss Relena?" Noin asked.

"Noin, you know I just want to be called 'Relena'" She laughed.

Noin nodded softly bowing her head afterward. "The war ahs started." She declared.

"What?" Relena asked.

"Sally sent out some mobile dolls to test the enemy, see how strong the new Oz is." Noin replied calmly.

Relena had heard all about Sally. In fact they knew each other personally because Sally kept trying to convince them that war would come back. And she had been right.

"And?" Relena inquired.

"They were massacred, we're very fortunate there were no human pilots." Noin answered.

Relena took a sharp breath, "I guess Heero was right then." And she laughed.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Why yes. Yes I am going to update. Thanks to Tanya Potter. (I'd thank MissPeeps but she's already my best friend so I'm sure she'll understand) I mean er…just joking. Hope you enjoy! Part 7. And just to let you know I'm going out of town so updates mightbe a little scarce for a while. 

Duo and Quatre had been discussing exactly how best to handle the situation of a new war for quite a while, but without the other Gundams there the discussion seemed pointless. They didn't have all the facts, Heero and Trowa had decided to do their own investigations into the new Oz's intentions, and as of yet they had not heard from either of them, which probably meant they were having no luck but refused to give up and tell the others they were wrong. That was how all the Gundam Pilots were, especially Heero and Wufei, they were all so independent refusing to take orders from each other especially if it would mean they had been wrong at first. They preferred to fight on their own, and besides there was no way Heero could get there until Saturday or for Trowa to be there until July so they were in no hurry.

But the war was in a hurry. Trowa even began to consider quitting his job so he could be there; ready for battle. Heero himself was even feeling overwhelmed by the current turmoil of the war, and he had almost picked up the phone just to ask Relena to convince him not to go to battle…almost. Oz would have laughed if they knew about the weaknesses of the fabled Gundam Pilots, the ones who brought peace between the colonies and earth.

Anyone who had ever seen the Gundams had one reaction, and only one reaction. "He's just a kid." Which was, if you think about it, one of the most annoying phrases ever invented by man. Children could do great things, such as bring peace between earth and the colonies or rule over a peaceful nation, but the Gundam Pilots were, however, growing up very nicely. If you looked very closely you could even see faint traces of facial hair along Heero's chin and Duo's upper lip. But no one ever payed that much attention except Heero and duo themselves and possibly Hilde though she'd never mentioned it to Duo.

The idea of facial hair scared them, though they would never admit it, they were scared to think about growing up when they had never been given a chance to enjoy childhood. They had all been sucked into the mobile suit pilot business at such early ages it seemed unbearable for them to realize exactly what they had spent the last few years of their lives doing. It was especially hard for Trowa…Catherine was such a carefree girl, she'd had a childhood, and she had a greater purpose than killing people in war. She tried to make Trowa believe that he did too, but he didn't; he knew that.

Duo finally broke the endless silence that had come between the 2 as they thought about all those things. "Hey Quatre," He asked, "Is there going to be anyone helping us from earth?"

"Duo didn't you here about the mobile dolls that got massacred? Those were Earth's mobile dolls." Quatre replied stiffly.

"Well, yeah, but now that that's happened who'd want to fight?" Duo asked.

"Sad people who think their life is meaningless, and those who have a reason to fight." Quatre sighed.

"There can't be too many of those can there?" Duo asked.

"Yes, Duo, there can." Quatre said.

Duo could see that his friend was upset, he'd been different ever since the day of the explosion; and almost 3 days had passed since then.

"It's not your fault that Wufei isn't gonna fight with us." Duo said.

"I know that's how I should feel, but I don't. I mean I still feel responsible for all those deaths. And now without Wufei there may be more needless deaths on both sides." Quatre bit his lip to keep himself from crying.

"Or…there may be less." Duo said brightly forcing Quatre to show a smile of his own.

"You're right Duo, I don't know what I was thinking." Quatre said, and for a while he believed it too.

"Duo," Quatre said as he stood, "We have a lot to be thinking about, maybe I should go home and get some rest. You should too."

Duo nodded, "Whatever pal."

"I'll show myself out." Quatre found his way to the door, and Duo heard the soft click.

He didn't imagine any of the Gundams would get much sleep, but he wasn't going to be one of those people who said this and didn't even try first. So he put on those same funny pajamas he'd worn the day Hilde came over and climbed into bed. He didn't feel much like taking the time to brush his teeth, or tidy his hair, or clean up the living room before he went to sleep; he was much too tired, and besides all that could wait till tomorrow. If there was one because that was one thing about war, tomorrow was always an uncertainty.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Thanks to TanyaPotter for a wonderfully uplifting review. So whadaya say? One more chappie before I go? Well sure, why not.

Part 8 

Noin had changed. She had seemed different ever since the war. Back when Oz and White Fang ruled space she would have given anything to be out there with the Gundams fighting. Now she was like a lost child, searching for something to do and not even acknowledging that there even was a war. Even Relena had noticed the change, and she rarely saw her. Although now, after realizing that something was different, she had been trying to spend as much time with Noin as possible in case she decided to talk or incase she actually was causing the problem. The first time Relena had noticed a change with Noin was yesterday when Noin had begged her to call Heero and the other gundams and talk them out of fighting. She had gotten down on her knees and begged Relena to stop them, and then she had promptly fainted.

"Noin!" She had called in fear, but she hadn't taken her to a hospital. This seemed like something she needed to get over in private and it wasn't threatening her life…yet. If it did she would certainly take her to the doctor.

Then after Noin had woken up, Relena had asked her to join her for dinner. They had eaten privately in Relena's office, at least Relena had. Noin showed up, she even put some food on her plate, but all she did the whole evening as they sat there, Relena talking constantly, was swish the food around her plate with her silverware and nod her head to acknowledge that Relena was talking. But truthfully Noin hadn't heard a single word that was spoken. When Relena asked her what she thought about a particular subject, the only response she had gotten was: "Yes, that sounds great." And that was hardly an appropriate response; it wasn't even a yes or no question!

So now here Relena was, asking herself over and over again "what was wrong with Noin?" and she never could come up with an answer that wasn't completely and totally bizarre or unimaginable.

"Miss Relena," Noin greeted as she entered the large office.

Relena smiled brightly putting all of her emotions into the simple gesture "Noin!"

"You asked to see me?" Noin asked shyly.

"Yes, I had a question to ask you." Relena replied still smiling. "Where do you think I should put this picture?"

Noin took the offering from Relena and stared at it, a lump forming in her throat. It was a picture of Relena, Zechs, and their father. The 2 siblings looked much younger, but there was no doubt of who they were. Noin gulped, forcing air into her lungs. It was the first time Relena had actually put something of her brother in the room. Unsteadily she spoke.

"I-if you pu-put it over there," She pointed at a spot far away from them both, "the-the light-t-t would cap-capture it be-est."

Relena looked at her strangely, "Yes it is surprising that I'm going to have Millardo's image in such a peaceful place when he killed so many people. I'm even surprised myself."

Noin nodded regaining her composure, "I guess I was a little surprised."

"More than a little, I'd say." Relena laughed.

It was then that Noin realized just how much Relena had matured since the day she'd asked Heero to kill her own brother. The shock had apparently set in by now, surprisingly quickly if you considered everything she'd been through. Or maybe Relena was just grateful to have a sibling at all, after all as a Dorlian she never felt as if she did.

Relena and Zechs looked so much alike, especially their smiles. It wasn't very often that you got to see Zechs smile, but even though Noin hardly remembered it she could see that Relena had the same smile.

Noin smiled at Relena's comment, "You know, you 2 look a lot alike."

"Really?" Relena asked, "Yes I suppose we do." She looked at the picture. "It's nice to see him without his mask."

"And before he changed his name." Noin agreed.

Relena reached out to take the picture, but found that Noin was gripping it very tightly and having a hard time letting go. When Relena finally managed to pry it from her hands, there were imprints of the frame wound intricately over the skin of Noin's hands.

"I miss him." Relena admitted with a sigh.

Noin nodded, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything; what was there to say? There were no words of comfort for loss. They hadn't heard from Zechs in a month, and there was no guarantee he was still alive. For all they knew he might have rejoined Oz, or he may even be the leader of Oz once again intent on destroying the earth. But he had claimed he had been fighting for peace, so they could only hope that he had stuck to his word. Pictures were the only memories they had of him, and the only ones that existed were of his early childhood. He had refused to have pictures of him made as a teen and adult because Zechs Marquise was not who he really was, but if that was true why did he live the way he did?

There would never be answers; Noin had already decided that Zechs was dead.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Well I'm back! Yup and before you ask it was a good trip! But, I'm glad to be back home, and now just for my loyal fans and wonderful reviewer (that's you TanyaPotter) I'm going to update.

Part 9 

Catherine could feel the ground shake under her feet, she was knocked to the floor, but quickly stood and ran. She could feel something behind her getting closer and closer, but fear refused to let her turn around and face it. She had been on her way to the store to buy supplies for the circus when the disturbance had started. Off in the distance she could see a large cloud of gray smoke that made the landscape look just like a filthy piece of white laundry flapping in the breeze. She had paused for a brief moment to stare at the smoke, thinking it was nothing more than a fire. It was too far away to be the circus so her mind was at ease.

"BOOM!" Came a sound from behind her.

She couldn't keep herself from gasping at the sight; a figure was emerging from the dark puff of smoke. But…it couldn't be…those weren't needed by the colonies or earth… It was a split second before she realized what she would have to do; RUN was the signal being sent by her brain, but her legs refused to move. They were too awestruck to move. She begged her legs to move for several seconds until finally they ran! But the rumbling from behind knocked her off balance. As she was standing she dared glance back only once, and to her horror more figures were emerging. She would have to hide, and fast!

As she panted she began to see the forms of bushes in her path, and as quickly as the boom had come she tossed herself to the ground behind them ducking her head as far down as it would go. Her pants were in a puddle of mud, but she didn't care about that. She was too frightened and intent on not being discovered to worry about muddy limbs.

A rush of wind, swirling desert sand, a giant yellow glowing explosion off in the distance and suddenly a new figure, dangerously familiar, zoomed past within her view which was very obstructed by the bush's tender leaves. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of something shiny attached to the giant machine that was now approaching the other ones she had first seen. The glint went back over the shoulder of the giant monster and then rushed forward cutting 3 figures in half symmetrically, perfectly, a completely clean cut. She could feel herself panting through a mixture of exhilaration and fear. She felt her arms tense as if they too wanted to fling forward and strike what ever lay in their way. But instead she laid still trying to calm herself, and only managing to make herself cry.

And then, just as suddenly as they had appeared the figures were gone. All but one. One lone figure stood high above the ruins of the rest, the fragments of the bloody, unexplainable thing that had just happened. Only then did she dare stand, trembling, from her hiding spot to face the horrendous creature in front of her only 50 ft away. For the first time she got a clear view of the mechanical monsters that had swept her off her feet. Unsteadily she stepped forward, closer to the familiar thing she had rarely seen before, but feeling a deep connection.

"Trowa!" She whispered trying to sound brave, but only managing to squeak pitifully. Silence. "Trowa!" She said more bravely.

She could see the figure scanning the horizon through the dimming sun as if it had heard her.

Again she shouted, more bravely this time "Trowa!" There was an odd boom hidden deep within her voice, an angry sound that refused to break loose. Almost like Pandora's Box, and no matter how hard the consuming anger fought, it couldn't quite escape.

Then he stared directly at her, the figure…the Gundam.

The Gundam paused as if taking in the sight before it of a lonely girl crying frantically to be spared. She looked pathetic in her muddy blue clothing that barely covered half her body and was torn in several places. Then the Gundam stopped, and she could hear a hissing sound. Then the figure of a boy emerged from deep within the bowels of the Gundam.

"Catherine?" He croaked and coughed on his own words, they stung his throat because of his fear. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." She frowned. "What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"Catherine," He gasped running to embrace her in a hug, "It's no longer safe. The war is back."

"But…Earth and the Colonies…peace…what about peace!" She cried out.

"This war has nothing to do with peace, Oz has returned with a new leader." Trowa explained.

Catherine paused, confused. Oz? Where had she heard that name before? But there was no time to ask questions, more important things were at hand. "Trowa, I thought you weren't going to fight anymore!"

"I know," He sighed, "But that was before I got my memory back."

"But, Trowa, you promised!" She screamed angrily.

"I know." He said, and suddenly he was gone and so was his Gundam.

For a long moment Catherine stared at her feet, she had tried so hard to help Trowa, she'd even adopted him as her brother.

"I guess…" She sighed, "I guess I just have to accept the fact that Trowa is mature enough to take care of himself. He doesn't need me, he never did." She paused and stared at her feet, "But I do…I need him. He's my brother after all." She smiled.

She never actually made it to the store, but she couldn't tell anyone what happened. She would have to lie, as much as she hated the idea. She didn't want to hurt anyone, so lying was her only option.

She walked slowly toward the circus she called home, still half-hoping to see Trowa run out of the tent to greet her. But he had quit a month previously after his role in the war was over. Catherine had heard all about the dreadful restaurant he worked in, and had even gone there once, big mistake. Very. Big. Mistake. She'd given him a lecture about working in such a filthy garbage dump right in front of his coworkers after eating the worst taco in the entire universe, and had promptly been thrown out of the restaurant. She'd been sick for 2 days straight, and had been sentenced to her bed for 52 total hours! In those 52 hours her only company had been dead silence and the silent motion of the ceiling fan. But it hadn't been as bad as you would have thought; oddly she hardly noticed the enveloping quietness of the room. Instead she had begun to focus on ways of getting Trowa out of the restaurant the garbage people forgot, as she called it. Well this was one way. She laughed at the thought, but this might just be worse than that restaurant. And seriously, that was saying something.

Catherine turned the TV dial one space to the right and watched as a faint image flickered onto the screen, slowly growing brighter.

"Now, Miss Dorlian, how do you plan to stop these rebel attacks on innocent people of the sinq kingdom?" A reporter was asking from the audience, and from the looks on the faces in the crowd it appeared that Miss Dorlian had just finished a rather lengthy speech.

"I don't know what the rebels are after, so I can't stop them yet. But I won't revert to using weapons and violence to clear this matter, that would only make things worse!" She explained.

The reporter appeared satisfied with the response, and several people flashed photographs and scribbled furiously on a pad of paper resting delicately in their hands.

"Miss Dorlian!" Several people shouted at once, but as the camera circled the crowd of people Catherine wasn't listening to them because in the background she saw them…2 boys looking innocent and trying to blend in as they chatted whimsically, Trowa and someone else. Someone he must have known quite well if he were talking that much. Perhaps another Gundam Pilot? Did they know Miss Dorlian, otherwise why would they be there so casually observing? They were the only people in Miss Dorlian's rather large audience that didn't appear to be reporters, and she knew Trowa wasn't anyway. Was the other boy with the messy brown hair a reporter? No he looked too serious.

Slowly Relena calmed the field of reporters until she could escape the massive crowd. As the conference came to a close she walked off the stage…straight toward Trowa and his friend.

Without thinking Catherine picked up the phone and dialed Trowa's number. He had a lot of explaining to do.

"Hello?" Came his cheerful voice.

"Amazing that he's back home so quickly after that battle." She thought.

"Trowa," she greeted with a hint of suspicion in her voice. "I was just watching the conference with Miss Dorlian, and I saw you standing in the background."

"And?" Trowa asked.

"What were you doing there?" The question sounded rather rude.

"I was with my friend Heero." He said in a 'calm down' sort of voice.

"And you know Miss Dorlian?" She asked.

"Well, Heero does and I have met her." Trowa answered.

"Could you ask your friend, Heero I assume, if he could get her to talk to me?" She asked.

"About what?" Trowa asked.

"PLEASE!" Catherine begged.

"I'll ask." He said.

"Thank you." She replied and hung up.

"That was rather odd." Trowa thought to himself as he too hung up. "Why would she need to talk to Relena? Oh well, it doesn't matter. She asked me to talk to Heero about arranging a meeting, and if she asked it must be important."

He thumbed through the phone book for a fraction of a second before he located what he was looking for. Few people knew it, but Heero really had put his name in the phone book.

"Hello?" Came Heero's voice through the phone.

"Hello. Heero, this is Trowa Barton, I have a favor to ask you."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Ok guys, I wanna apologize for there not being a break between scenes. There's supposed to be (I didn't forget) it just got deleted I guess. So I'll be more careful from now on. If it gets to be a problem I'll repost the part. Of course, do remember I wrote this story over a year ago. Thanks to my reviewers, new and old, TanyaPotter, Kami-Crimson, and M.J.L.S! And I'm glad you consider me worthy for your author alert list. Well anyway, I'll let you get to reading.

Part 10 

Relena is, of course, a very understanding and kind person. At least that's the perception she gave off, and, in fact, it was a rather good description of her. So when Heero called and relayed Trowa's message, it didn't even take 5 seconds for her to say "yes" about meeting with Catherine. She was actually quite curious as to why a complete stranger would wish to speak with her, although many did simply because she was a celebrity. But this Catherine person seemed different. And besides Relena trusted Trowa's judgment, he was a sensible young man, even if she'd only spoken to him a few times. If Heero thought it was worth telling her about the request, then she had no choice but to listen.

2 days. That was all she had until the encounter with this new person who would hopefully not be even remotely similar to Dorothy and her fascinations with war. Hopefully Catherine would be a sweet girl with the same hopes for peace as herself. But Relena would not judge her based on her beliefs. That was why Relena was such a strong leader, because she was a person of good judgment.

The only question on Relena's mind was, why, now, was this Catherine so interested in meeting her? Why had she not asked to meet her before? Another question that need not be answered as the question's answer would have nothing to do with what kind of person Catherine was. Time was not something you judged by. Whatever the reasons, Trowa's description made Catherine seem like a very nice person.

Relena looked at the clock. "3:40AM?" She asked aloud, and then unsteadily shifted sides and closed her eyes again. Why had she been thinking about Catherine, the person she would meet in a few short days when there was so much else to do and think? She couldn't be distracted by future events that had little significance in her hectic schedule. She should have been thinking about more important things like peace, stopping Heero and the other Gundams, or changing her name to Relena Peacecraft. In the public eye she still preferred to be called Relena Dorlian, although as a leader of the Sinq Kingdom, the Peacecraft dream, the name Dorlian hardly seemed fitting. She was, after all, a true Peacecraft, and the only of the siblings with very little blood on her hands, even if she still felt like a Dorlian. She should have been contemplating those things instead of her upcoming meeting with a citizen of Earth.

"Earth?" Relena thought. "Hmmm, maybe I should take a trip to space. I could use a break, though I doubt there's much time for one. As unsafe as it is here on earth, especially for delegates of the Sinq Kingdom, in space on the…colonies it must be 10 times worse." Slowly she pulled herself out of bed and gazed through a tiny window that had drawn her attention, "How could I possibly sleep with so much to think about?"

She turned away from the window and put her hand to her forehead so quickly it seemed like a rocket launching off the surface of Earth had taken control of her body. "No I will not think that way." She cried as a wet tear spilled down her glistening cheek.

Even in the moonlight her skin glistened, her eyes shown like big round fireballs only they were much cooler and safer. She allowed herself to cry only for a moment before returning her thoughts to Heero and the dangers of being a Gundam Pilot. Zechs would not have been proud if he saw the way she was handling herself anytime she had the chance to be alone. Crying would not bring peace. Then again what would? She was finished with feeling sorry for herself; she had to be strong for her people, even in the dark confines of her room. Her room? Wasn't that a child's term for a place of dwelling? The only place they could feel secure and find peace? Wasn't this her quarters and not her room? Since when had she referred to it using that term, it had been a very long time. In fact she didn't even remember those days it was so long ago. She stomped her foot against the carpet in an attempt to release anger, since when did she have anger?

Since the war began again. This new war infuriated her because there was no fight for peace or order; it was a meaningless fight to bring chaos. She held her beliefs strong, same as she had done throughout the last war: the war that had both given and taken her brother from her. And alone in this room, she couldn't possibly come to terms with this war or her life.

X

At first, as Catherine walked up the stone steps to the large manor of the Sinq Kingdon, she was cautious acting like a lost little girl. Perhaps she was wrong about the date? Anything could have happened; this could even have been another of Trowa's pranks or broken promises. But as she was led down a long corridor by a small silent woman who seemed as if she was going to cry, Catherine calmed down slightly allowing herself to control her nerves instead of the other way around.

"Relena has been anxious about meeting you, I don't know why. Normally she's quite calm about visitors." Her guide said.

"I've probably come at a very stressful time, by the way what's your name?" Catherine asked.

"Lucrezia Noin, but please call me Noin or Miss Noin." Noin replied.

Catherine nodded, "You probably know who I am."

"I do." Noin answered never changing facial expressions.

Catherine took it as a sign that the discussion was over, and she couldn't have been more right if she tried. Catherine stared at her feet the remainder of the journey, half afraid that if she dared gaze at Miss Noin then her guide would burst into tears. And likely she would have too, but it would take more than the stare of an innocent girl to get Noin to show her true feelings, especially to a stranger. Her attempts to look content apparently weren't passing, because this girl she was escorting had an oddly sympathetic curve to her features.

Not skipping a beat, Noin led her guest to a small brown door that, had you not been a trained professional, you might have missed the door entirely. Silently she knocked, getting louder with each thump. Normally she would have simply burst into the room, but with Catherine around she felt like being courteous and polite.

"Come in?" Came Relena's courageous voice from behind the door.

"Welcome!" She stood and shook Catherine's hand as they entered.

Noin bowed and left leaving the 2 alone.

For some odd reason Catherine had pictured the pretty young woman in front of her as less of a kind person, though she could see now that Relena had everything: brains, looks, and kindness. All the important qualities she wished she had.

"I am Relena Dorlian, how can I help you?" She asked in her normal bubbly voice that Heero as well as many others found quite annoying, but Catherine found it quite welcoming.

"Catherine Bloom." She replied, "Charmed."

"Heero says Trowa spoke very highly of his adoptive sister." Relena joked.

"Yes, that may be true, but I'm a little concerned about him." Catherine sighed.

"Really?" Relena asked getting interested.

"I've told him so many times not to get involved with the war." Catherine shook her head, "He just won't listen."

"Yes I know exactly what you mean." Relena laughed, so Catherine was a person who wanted peace after all.

Catherine looked at her suspiciously arching her eyebrow, how could anyone know?

"I've had just as little luck with Heero," Relena stated reading her mind. "They're just too stubborn and independent."

Catherine nodded finally feeling at ease with Relena. "Maybe we can come up with some way of stopping those 5 from fighting."

"4 actually, one of them came to his senses on his own. But I've already tried to stop Heero…" Relena began.

"But you were alone, you know what they say '2 heads are better than 1'." Catherine said.

"Yes, they also say great minds think alike." Relena laughed.

"And not so great minds too." Catherine agreed, "Probably why those Gundam Pilots think so much the same way!"

"That was mean!" Relena sarcastically.

"So?" Catherine asked.

Relena couldn't help but laugh.

"So you went to all that trouble to get in touch with me just to help me convince the Gundams not to fight?" Relena asked.

"Yep." Catherine smiled.

"You know what?" Relena smiled, "Your plan is just crazy enough to work."

"Yes, let's call the boys together and see if they can resist us." Catherine agreed.

Relena nodded, "They don't stand a chance."

"You know nonviolence can be such fun!" Catherine grinned evilly.

Relena nodded, "But it's a lot of hard work too."

"Probably not as hard as running a circus!" Catherine countered.

"Yes, well I've never tried that." Relena said.

Catherine picked up the phone, "Who shall we call?"

"Trowa is easier." Relena said.

"Heero it is then." Catherine agreed.

They kept giggling as the phone rang and finally Heero picked up. Catherine handed the phone to Relena.

"Heero?" Relena asked. "No wait, don't hang up!"

Catherine put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

But they had no luck with Heero, they were definitely right; Trowa would be easier. But they had no luck with him either. They tried several arguments, peace, war, future, past, present, family none of it affected them, at least not enough for them to stop fighting. Catherine had barely survived the battle between Trowa and the mobile suites, piloted by real humans, and yet he refused to stop fighting. How many people would be less fortunate? How many people would have to die for them to realize what they had to do? Or were Catherine and Relena really wrong, were their jobs to protect the weak Sinq Kingdom? The Sinq Kingdom was only weak because they did not believe in war, they had no weapons to protect themselves, and maybe the Gundams were supposed to protect the Sinq Kingdom and it's beliefs so that one day there would be true peace.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Ok guys, I leave again tomorrow and I'll be gone a week. So I thought I'd update again before I left. Thanks to my awesome reviewers TanyaPotter and Kami-Crimson! If you wanna get recognized like them then you gotta review, and you can see your name next to the word 'awesome' or some other amazing word! Lol, well anyway I'm sure I've begged enough and you guys are anxious to read the story so I'll shut up now and you can go right ahead!

Part 11 

Hilde crept up to the doorway, and stopped suddenly as she heard voices on the other side. Quatre and Duo were up late, really late talking about the war…waiting for Heero and Trowa who were supposed to arrive…she glanced at her watch…in an hour. She put her ear up to the door and listened, though she knew it was rude. She needed to know, she needed the knowledge of what really was happening and how her boyfriend planned to handle it. She'd baked a special cake for the arrival of Trowa and Heero, a celebration of the reunion, which was now getting colder every second. The wind whipped her hair around over her shoulders, around her neck as if attempting to strangle her. She coughed, and covered her mouth just as quickly as the noise had escaped. But there was no rustle from inside; they had not heard her.

"Quatre, I'm just afraid that someone is going to get hurt." Duo said.

"Duo, I know! Why do you think Wufei isn't going to fight? But it's like you said, think how many people will get hurt if we don't" Quatre agreed.

Duo sighed, "What about Hilde? I have a girlfriend, you should have one of your own. We should settle down and have a family, you know, things that normal people do. I'm afraid…she's my weakness. Oz will realize that. They might hurt her…they might hurt our families."

"We took that risk last time, all 5 of us, now the 4 of us have to take it again." Quatre said softly, so softly that Hilde could barely hear him.

"Then I guess we should discuss battle plans." Duo offered.

There was a momentary pause.

"I overheard an Oz transmission in my Gundam suit yesterday when I was fixing it up." Duo explained, "They said something about an assassination attempt on Relena Dorlian."

"She would be a big threat to them." Quatre agreed, "And not to mention Heero wouldn't be too happy about it."

"They're close?" Duo asked.

Quatre laughed, "No…well maybe…I don't really know, but they are friends. She's been trying to talk Heero out of fighting, you know the whole peace idealism she has."

"Yeah." Duo agreed. "I'm not surprised, I guess you and I are just lucky she doesn't know us all that well."

"Heero's probably told her about us, but he's such a secretive guy, you never know what he thinks." Quatre countered.

"I wonder if Trowa knows her." Duo offered.

"I hardly doubt he does. Trowa was always trying to make Heero more open about his feelings, he somehow thought that would help our mission." Quatre explained.

"You think he's cracked yet?" Duo laughed.

"Be serious, Duo. If there really is an assassination plot on Relena's life we'll have to tell them tonight when they get here." Quatre said.

"So much for sleep, eh pal?" Duo asked.

"Ah cheer up, we'll get to see our old friends soon." Quatre comforted.

"Friends?" Duo asked.

"Yes, friends." Quatre said slyly. "The war ended, we should stop thinking of them as colleagues.

"No my friend, that's where you're wrong." Duo sighed, "The war has just begun."

Hilde was exceedingly tired of listening to assassination attempts on Relena Dorlian's life and of war and friends and colleagues, finally she worked up the courage to interrupt their conversation and knocked.

"Is that them?" Quatre asked.

"Can't be, they're never early." Duo said.

"Well, somebody open the door!" Hilde shouted.

"Hilde?" Duo asked.

"Yes, my cake is getting cold!" Hilde answered.

She heard the familiar twist of the knob and saw the familiar face of her boyfriend.

"What's the cake for?" Duo asked.

"I thought we should celebrate your little reunion." Hilde smiled.

"War is nothing to celebrate." Quatre countered.

"Yes, but it's the only thing that brings you all together." Hilde offered.

Quatre nodded, "We're very independent."

"I noticed." Hilde agreed handing the cake to Duo.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" He asked.

"Duo, put it on the table or the cabinet or somewhere but don't drop it; isn't that obvious?" Hilde pointed towards the kitchen.

Quatre laughed. "Settle down huh?"

"Quatre," Duo began.

Quatre looked at him questioningly.

"Shut it!" Duo finished.

"To quote you, hey, hey I'm not the enemy calm down!" Quatre shouted at Duo who was now in the kitchen.

Duo grunted as he stepped onto some unfortunate breakfast from last week that had not found it way to the fridge, but instead the floor and now was underneath Duo's shoe.

"Hilde!" He called, "I need help with this mess."

"Boys." Hilde laughed and went off to aid her boyfriend.

Quatre sat in silence staring at the blank TV screen deep in thought. He really didn't like war, he really wanted peace, but wasn't that how all the Gundams felt? They were just willing to fight for what they most wanted.

Duo scratched his head as Hilde scraped the large pile of goo from his shoe. He muttered a thanks that was more characteristic of Heero than himself, but still Hilde got the message and nodded with a smile.

"It's always a pleasure cleaning your week old breakfast off your shoe." Hilde said sarcastically.

"Ha ha, very funny." Duo said.

"No, I'm serious." She countered sarcastically.

"Yeah right!" He smiled.

"Good, you smiled." She said.

"Quatre can you see their headlights yet?" She called.

But there was no response.

"Hmmm, maybe he's in the bathroom?" Duo asked.

"Yeah." Hilde agreed as she tossed the napkins and washed her hands.

Duo headed for the living room and Hilde followed centimeters behind. Suddenly Duo stopped and Hilde ran straight into him, which hurt.

"Ow." She complained peaking around his shoulder.

"Shhh." Duo commanded.

"What?" She asked quietly, and then she saw it.

"Sleep tight Quatre." Duo said softly.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Alright, I've actually been home for about a week but I didn't get around to updating before now, sorry. A warm and wonderful thanks to TanyaPotter and Kami-Crimson for such uplifting reviews! And, well, since I really have nothing else to say...um...er...enjoy part 12!

Part 12 

Trowa and Heero did not arrive on schedule. All flights were delayed by 4 hours, and so the cake became very cold.

"You know it won't taste as good after it's been re-heated." Hilde complained.

"Really? I think it'll taste perrrrfect." Duo smiled.

Hilde blushed, "Duo you're such a kidder."

"Yeah, but I can sure make you blush." They laughed.

"You think we should get some sleep?" Hilde asked.

"Yeah, you can sleep wherever you like. Couch in the guest room, bed in the guest room, wherever you're comfortable." He yawned.

She nodded. "I'll head to bed in a few, I just want to sit here for a few minutes in peace." She said.

"All right, babe." He agreed, "Goo' night."

Hilde smiled and breathed deeply, "Good night."

4 hours of sleep was definitely not enough. But it was all they were going to get unlike lucky Quatre who would manage to grab 5 undisturbed hours of silence. Duo was used to getting that much, or rather that little sleep, he often laid awake for hours unable to sleep. He'd always had what others would have called "insomnia" but it had become so normal for him that it hardly deserved that title. It was so normal, insomnia was supposed to be an alien that only visited once in a while when you were anxious, or happy, or scared. So he didn't call it insomnia, and nobody knew about his sleep problems either. On the nights that he got no sleep at all and someone noticed he was tired he would make up an excuse about sleeping wrong or nightmares orsometimeshe'd even ignore him or her. And honestly, it always worked. They always believed whatever preposterous story Duo happened to pull out of his hat, not that he was worried about it or anything. He didn't have anything to hide really, did he? No.

4 hours later, morning, well not exactly, but Heero and Trowa both came knocking on the door and nearly scared Quatre out of his skin.

"Wha?" He asked grumpily opening only 1 eye.

"Hello!" Came a very grumpy voice outside, "Anyone home?"

"Trowa?" Quatre asked still dazed and confused.

"Oh Trowa!" He suddenly snapped to real life, "Coming!"

He opened the door, and there stood 2 very sleepy men with a suitcase each. They had apparently packed very lightly, probably taking less than they really needed.

"Sorry, Duo and I were up late last night waiting for you." Quatre explained.

Heero nodded, "I understand."

Trowa piled through the door followed closely by Heero, and Hilde came down the stairs seconds later. She went up and hugged them both as a greeting, and they nearly gagged.

"Hello Trowa, Heero! It's so wonderful to see you!" Hilde exclaimed.

"She must be having some sort of hormone imbalance." Reasoned Heero in his mind.

Trowa looked pleadingly at Quatre, who in response called for Duo. Duo, in all the commotion, bumped his head on his headboard, and barely managed to stifle a scream. Instead he softly said "oww" through gritted teeth. Quickly he stuffed himself into a clean shirt and pants and joined everyone downstairs.

"Quatre, let's warm the cake!" Hilde screamed.

"For breakfast?" Heero asked.

"Any time is a good time for cake!" Hilde countered with a pleasant tone.

"Hilde I think you need some more sleep." Duo said

"Nonsense!" She laughed, "I'd never miss an opportunity to eat cake with my favorite Gundam pilots."

Quatre nodded, "Then let's eat. Duo warm the cake for 4 minutes."

He quickly stuffed the frosting covered bread into the oven, and tapped his foot for the next 4 minutes as he waited for it to be done.

"You know, you didn't have to stand there waiting with it." Trowa offered.

Duo grunted, "Yeah, well too bad."

"No need to be hostile." Trowa stated.

"Come on guys, get along." Quatre intervened.

Everyone nodded, and took seats around the large dining table. Trowa was rather jealous of the amazing house Duo had accumulated in the past month, when he himself barely had managed anything.

Hilde calmly passed around slices of the cake and waited with baited breath for them to say how wonderful it was! They didn't. And finally she grew impatient enough to ask them.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"Of the cake?" Trowa asked.

"Yeah." Hilde smiled, "Good huh?"

"Absolutely!" Quatre agreed.

"Yes." Heero and Trowa said.

Duo just sat there trying to think of a good way to say it, "Couldn't have done better myself," Although that really didn't say much for Duo because he never was good at baking cakes.

Cakes, however, were Hilde's specialty.

As they finished the cake (which Heero still thought wasn't fit for breakfast) no one spoke. They sat in silence for a long moment until Quatre ended the silence with a little provoking from Hilde.

"Heero, Trowa, we have a bit of a problem." He began.

They glared at him and Duo attempted to hide his face.

"Duo overheard an Oz transmission, and…there's going to be an assassination attempt on Relena's life."

Heero nearly dropped his fork, Trowa's eyes bulged out of his skull.

"Relena." Heero said.

Quatre nodded, "We have to stop them."

"But how?" Trowa asked, and then he saw the glint in Hilde's eyes.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Well it's so nice to hear from you guys, and I mean that. Kami I like to read reviews as much as you like to write them. It really is great to know if my writing is good or just a horrible waste of my readers' time. And also thanks to my, apparently new-found fan, Lesser God. Answering your question most basically, Oz didn't exactly comply with the 'destroy all your weapons' command and they have had a year to build even better weapons. Well I suppose that, that being said, on with chapter 13!

Part 13 

Catherine and Relena were becoming fast friends, and now Catherine felt completely comfortable walking up to her office at any random time of day. They'd even gotten to the point where Catherine called her Relena, and Relena called her Catherine; instead of the more formal Miss Dorlian and Miss Bloom, which didn't quite roll off the tongue as wonderfully. Of course, unlike Noin, Catherine still knocked on Relena's door before she entered. As she was welcomed in, Catherine saw that the place had been hit by a tornado overnight, well not literally, but it was very messy. In one corner Relena stood holding a suitcase and frantically searching for…something.

"Relena?" Catherine asked.

"Cathy!" Relena smiled and motioned for her friend to come closer.

"What are you packing for?" Catherine asked, assuming that was what Relena was up to.

"I'm needed on the colonies." Relena explained, jamming another shirt neatly into the velvety suitcase.

"Another speech?" Catherine laughed.

"I don't mind giving peace speeches." Relena said, "What I do mind is the short notice. They need me tomorrow. Tomorrow! Can you believe that? Couldn't they at least have given me some warning?"

"Apparently not." Catherine shook her head.

Relena looked disappointed. "It really isn't fair that I should be giving Peacecraft speeches as a Dorlian."

"No one cares about a name." Catherine argued.

"I do, and why would the Gundam Pilots have chosen their code names if they didn't?" Relena asked, "A name is an identification."

Catherine nodded understandingly, "True, but what does that have to do with how strong a symbol you are to the people? You're the first symbol of peace that comes to most anyone's mind."

Relena frowned, "I suppose it's better being remembered for peace, unlike my brother."

"You mean Millardo?" Catherine inquired.

"He's a symbol of fear and uncertainty to the colonists, and, as his sister, so am I." Relena finished.

"Honestly, Relena, you know that isn't true." Catherine frowned.

"No?" Relena looked at her meaningfully. "Yesterday I ran into a child, a boy named Dani, his parent's were victims of my brother...he's an orphan now." She was talking too fast.

"I can't imagine," Catherine sighed sadly.

"I can" Relena said.

"Hmmm?" Catherine asked.

"My father was killed by Oz." She explained.

"I'm sorry." Was all Catherine knew to utter.

Relena nodded, "It was nearly a year ago."

"When are you leaving for the colonies?" Catherine asked.

"In an hour, would you like to join me?" Relena asked politely, "I could use the company."

"No thank you, I could never leave the circus unattended." She laughed.

"You're afraid of flying aren't you?" Relena grinned mischievously.

"Maybe a little." Catherine admitted

"Well, I suppose there will be enough people keeping me company. I should probably rest this arm, it'll be signing a lot of autographs tomorrow."

"Indeed." Catherine agreed.

"I need some help with my speech," Relena admitted, "Normally Noin would have agreed to hear it and give her opinions but she doesn't seem as willing as she used to."

"Sounds exciting!" Catherine said sarcastically.

They stood in silence for a moment; Catherine sensed tension in the air.

"I'm worried." Relena spoke softly, "This war will end the peace."

"I'm worried about that too." Catherine admitted. "But can we ever truly have peace?"

"Millardo always said that." Relena said sadly.

"This air of uncertainty doesn't fit you, Relena." Catherine eyed her suspiciously.

Relena shrugged, "He always said that too. I think he felt that I was the only hope for the Peacecraft family to bring peace to the world."

"He sounds like a wonderful brother." Catherine admitted.

"He killed too many people." Relena shook her head.

"Maybe, but can you blame him?" Catherine asked.

"Yes." Relena cried.

"It was his only way to protect you, Relena." Catherine disagreed.

"I understand that, but I never killed anyone. I only held a gun once, never shot it, but I wanted revenge." Relena answered weakly.

"You're a strong person, so was Millardo, we all are…in different ways." Catherine pointed out. "Wait…revenge for what?"

"Lady Une…killed my father!" Relena shouted fiercely.

"Oh." Catherine watched as Relena threw a tantrum of sorts.

"Relena calm down." Catherine said after a few moments.

Relena looked at her sadly, "You don't have any terrible memories of the war, do you?" She shot back.

Catherine just stood there staring sadly at the floor, "No."

Relena managed to calm herself down after a few minutes. "I'm sorry, Catherine, I have to go."

She stood for a moment before leaving, and opened her mouth as if to say something more, but she quickly shut it and sighed. Catherine could only imagine what she'd stopped herself from saying…or why she'd stopped before she said it. Relena draped her suitcase over her shoulder and left the room, nodding at Catherine the whole time. Catherine stared at the door long after Relena left the room, still puzzled by her actions. Did she miss her brother even though he'd done such horrible things?

It had been long enough for Relena to have made it outside by now, and Catherine scooted over to the window so she could watch her friend depart. She waved as she watched through the window, and Relena looked back, smiling. But Catherine could see something more in her eyes, and her suspicions were confirmed. Relena really missed Millardo, and she didn't like doing this on her own with no knowledge of where her brother was.

Catherine wiped the thought from her mind, it had no significance, and by the time she looked out the window again Relena was gone. But Catherine was left with a sinking feeling in her stomach, something seemed wrong, very wrong, but what?


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Well since I think I've milked that last chapter for all the reviews I could, I suppose it's time I post another chapter. Anyway, school started today, but since I already have this thing typed out that shouldn't interfere much. Much thanks to Kami-Crimson and TanyaPotter for your blissfully uplifting reviews :)! I'm glad I've been successful in really bringing Relena to life. I never disliked her in the series, but I know a lot of people did.

**Part 14**

"Miss Dorlian, can I get you anything to drink?" A shuttle attendant asked.

"No thank you, I'm fine." She smiled graciously at him.

"Of course, Miss." He answered and walked on.

Suddenly the ship lurched, and Relena waited impatiently for the pilot's explanation.

"We're going through some minor turbulence." He reported unemotionally. "Please remain seated until we have cleared the turbulence."

Relena buckled her seatbelt until the shuttle calmed down and the seatbelt sign flicked off, she was the only passenger on the shuttle. She tried to unbuckle herself, but the seatbelt was stuck. She called back for assistance from the shuttle attendant, but no one came.

"What's going on?" She thought.

Slowly she turned to face her window, and, sensing the danger, blinked her eyes.

"Mobile dolls!" She screamed, "What's going on?"

The door to the cockpit burst open revealing 2 uniformed men, 1 she recognized as the captain, the other she didn't know.

"Don't worry Miss Dorlian." The strange man chuckled, "We're not here to hurt you as long as you cooperate."

"What's going on?" She thought frantically.

"Now, don't struggle. We're simply here to take you back to Oz headquarters, and as long as you go silently no one will get hurt. However, 1 false move and we can't be responsible for the missiles aimed directly at the colony. I hope this isn't an inconvenience." He laughed maniacally.

"Will you cooperate?" The captain asked.

"The safety of the colonies is at stake!" Her mind screamed frantically. "Yes." She blurted.

Immediately another figure emerged from the room at the other end of the shuttle, and the 2 men next to her unbuckled her seat belt, holding onto her arms tightly.

"Let go of her." The man demanded.

"Probably the leader," She inferred.

The men looked puzzled, but obeyed.

"Now step away from her, I don't want you 2 goons getting hurt." He pulled out a gun from his belt that had previously been hidden from view.

Relena hadn't seen this coming, and apparently neither had the captain or his henchman.

"We can't have anyone trying to rescue you, the colony is safe if that's what you're wondering." He muttered. "By the way my name is Nero Ein, Don't be frightened this won't hurt a bit." He aimed the gun directly at her.

Suddenly a rush of light outside the window alerted them to a new presence, but Relena couldn't look to see who was there. Nero chuckled as if hiding a gasp.

"Well, let's finish our work." He smiled evilly, "Sw'i, get into the cockpit. Get us out of here!"

"So the pilot's name is Sw'i?" Relena thought trying to forget her fear.

Nero turned back to her. "As for you Miss Dorlian."

"You promised you wouldn't hurt the colonies!" She begged.

"Of course, but I never promised anything for your safety!" He shouted, "It does us no good if they capture you. You'll still be our hostage, dead or alive."

"What do you mean by that?" But she found herself staring at a shiny gun instead.

Sw'i looked at Nero, "What are you doing?"

"Sw'i get us out of here!" Commanded Nero.

Sw'i dashed past, and suddenly Relena felt a fast jerk as the plane began to move in a new direction.

Nero disappeared into the room he had originally appeared from for only a moment, and Relena could hear him talking to the mobile suit pilots, "Hold off the Gundams!"

Which they did, and the 3 Gundams couldn't quite get through.

"Nero!" The 3rd man said suddenly.

Nero rushed into the room. "What, Drake?"

"Look!" Drake screamed. "Is that?"

Nero pounded his fist on top one of the seats next to him. "Yes it is!"

"Gundam 05?" Drake was bewildered.

"And Noin!" Nero added. "I'm surprised to see them both, Noin didn't want to join us and 05 is just too stubborn to be here for no reason."

"Noin?" Relena blurted.

Nero glared at her, "What does it matter to you?"

Drake didn't allow her the chance to answer, "She betrayed us!"

"No, she betrayed Oz long before this war started." Nero looked as if he wanted to cry, "I never thought she'd turn to the other side! Especially when Zechs was still an Oz soldier."

"Is she here to rescue the Dorlian girl?" Drake asked.

"I wouldn't put it past her," Nero said aggravated, "But I don't see how she could know about our plan, same to the Gundams! No they're just here to destroy the mobile doll army."

Drake nodded and looked questioningly at his boss.

"I'll take care of the girl." Nero answered. "Unless you want the honor?"

"No." He pushed away the hand and declined the offer of the silver gun.

Nero stared at him icily, "Then let me do my job!"

Drake ran quickly out of the room in fear for his life. There was probably more than 1 bullet in that gun.

"Well Miss Dorlian it's just you and me." Nero smirked. "Of course no one ever needs to know about that. And I don't think Sw'i or Drake will tell them, I know I won't, and unfortunately neither will you. It's just too bad we couldn't get to know each other better first."

"What?" Was the only question running through Relena's mind.

"You see, we'll still use you as an excuse to get whatever we want but there will be no risk of them rescuing you and going back to peace. Your idealistic world is about to turn upside down Miss Dorlian!" He continued.

Relena looked out the window just in time to see 4 Gundams, where was the other one, Duo's, and why had Wufei chosen to join the battle? But she never had the chance to answer that question, everything was happening much too fast. And she could feel herself crying; but she quickly brightened up. Was this her fate? She choked down sobs and peered through the small portal to her side, wondering what was happening and why everyone was here.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: I am so sorry it's taken me this long to update! I honestly forgot about it, and that can be a good sign for my memory. Thanks to TanyaPotter for the uplifting review, and again I apologize for the long delay.

**Part 15**

Sally needed help. Her men were fighting a hopeless battle, but there was no one to come to the rescue. Wufei had already told her that he would do no fighting(unless he deemed it necessary, and certainly this didn't fit that category), and the other Gundams were who knows where doing who knows what. Sally was all alone, even the help of the few mobile dolls she'd managed to steal from her opponents were of no use, although they did lessen the number of enemies there were to attack them. Oz was advancing on the small forces that opposed them. Sally's people couldn't even pull themselves together to work as a team!

Sally had given up on them after an hour of shouting: "No don't shoot there!"

"This is unit 5 requesting orders!" Said a captain dutifully.

"Unit 5 I wish I could tell you what to do, but without the cooperation of your fellow soldiers this is a hopeless scenario." Sally answered.

"Understood, we'll keep the com. link open and continue firing on section BII." Rang the captain's voice.

Sally nodded, "All right men, all units stand down!"

For the first time they actually did as she asked.

"We have to come up with some sort of plan!" She ordered, "General G. What's your opinion?"

"Let me take charge of units 1-9." He offered.

"Understood." Sally said, "I'm transferring their override codes now. No pressure, but I'm counting on you."

"All other units…" Sally stopped mid-sentence.

"Need some help?" Duo asked.

"Yeah, we could use some help…" Sally agreed.

"Duo at your service, but you can call me 'God of Death'." He offered.

"There's no time for talk!" Sally said, "All units keep doing what you're doing, listen to Duo otherwise, understood?"

Faint murmurs of "yes" were heard from several units.

"Well, Duo, it looks like you have your work cut out for you." Sally smiled gratefully.

"Yup." He agreed and charged himself straight into a formation of enemies. "Be careful."

"You too." She replied.

The battle lasted only microseconds as the Oz fleet acted like scared little dogs whenever a Gundam got involved, and they quickly fled the scene.

"Where are your Gundam friends?" Sally asked when Oz's soldiers had disappeared into the distance.

"Saving a girl named Relena, a friend of Heero. You know the Dorlian girl, head of the Sanq Kingdom." Duo responded dully.

"Why aren't you with them?" she asked.

"Dunno, even Wufei got involved in the rescue of Relena's life, actually he's the one who asked me to come here. We picked you up on radar and I thought I'd help him out so maybe he'll help us in the future." He shrugged. "Dunno why he finds the assassination attempt on Relena's life so important, actually got him out of his shell for once. Can't say that I blame him though, it'd be nice to be recognized by the colonies as the hero who saved their beloved Relena Dorlian. Yeah, but I guess helping you out is a bit more fun, I mean how often do you get to see Oz retreat?"

"You're really brave coming out here like this." She said admiringly.

"They don't call me 'God of Death' for nothing." He stated proudly.

She nodded, "Well, Duo, I'm glad you came. Oz just about had us finished."

"Yeah I think Wufei's realizing that too, why else would he join the fight. Peace just doesn't suit you guys you know." He laughed.

"I'll keep that in mind next time I get in contact with Miss Dorlian." She suggested.

"Whatever," He answered, "Anyway I'm sure they have their hands just as full, 4 Gundams and an advanced mobile suit don't quite make an army unless you put 'The God of Death' into the equation."

"You all say that." Sally pointed out.

"So?" Duo asked, "No one said they were all right."

"And you?" She asked.

"I tested that theory myself." He said proudly, "You just can't have a battle without Duo Maxwell, God of Death."

"So you stayed behind and took yourself out of the equation just to help me?" She asked.

Duo shrugged, "I guess."

"I'm glad," Sally replied, "You seem like a good kid."

Duo laughed, "Yeah I guess I am."

There was a long silence between the 2 as if time had completely stopped and no one in the universe could speak either.

"Oz may just be getting more troops," Duo announced.

"Maybe, you should stick around just in case." Sally nodded.

"Yeah, you guys are too weak without me." He answered.

"I've been told that before." She stated.

"Wufei thinks everyone is weak, even himself," He pointed out, "I base my statements on fact."

"I can see that." She nodded.

He sighed, "I'm bored."

"So am I." She stated. "But I'm just glad we survived."

"Yeah I guess, but I don't get hurt easily.

"Anyone can be hurt, Duo, anyone can be killed." Sally replied uneasily searching for a distant sign of…something, but nothing came.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: School, gotta love it…or not. This year has been full of way too much homework and WAY too many tests. I mean seriously, do we really have to do THAT many major projects? I mean the school year is like 1/6 over. Well basically this is my way of saying sorry for the long wait. But considering we're getting closer and closer to the end, maybe the wait isn't so bad. Thanks to my splendiferous reviewers tanya, Modified Tam, and Kami-Crimson. It's great to see loyal reviewers as well as new faces. I hope all of, including those of you who read but don't review (I know there are probably a lot of you) enjoy part 16.

**Part 16**

Relena's eyes opened slowly, she blinked for the bright light that greeted her. "Where am I?" She thought. She tried to sit up, but was immediately forced back down by a throbbing pain in her chest. She glanced around looking for the source of the bright light. Over by the window stood the blurred image of a person.

"Heero?" Relena asked.

The person turned around, "Relena! You're awake!"

The person was not Heero, Relena realized that as her eyes, now accustomed to the light, could see the image more clearly.

"It's Catherine. Don't you recognize me?" Catherine asked.

"I do." Relena responded painfully.

"I was starting to get worried, as was everyone else." Catherine smiled and attempted to hug her friend.

"Ow," Relena complained, " Where am I?"

"Sorry. You're in the hospital." Catherine explained.

"What happened?" Relena asked hoarsely.

"I don't know I wasn't there, you'll have to ask Noin." Catherine sighed.

"Heero?" Relena asked.

"They're in the hall." Catherine laughed with delight, "Probably talking to a doctor. You were lucky Relena, really. They almost couldn't save you."

Relena nodded though the motion pained her. She looked down at the rest of her body, but blankets covered it. Catherine left silently and moments later Noin entered.

"Relena." She smiled at the sight. "I never expected to see you in this kind of situation. Why didn't you take your security men with you? You can never trust 1 man."

"What…happened…" Relena questioned.

"It was a plot…by Oz…to…assassinate you." Noin answered.

Relena sat bolt upright losing all sense of the pain in her chest. "Oz tried to kill me?"

"Relena, you shouldn't sit up so soon after the ordeal. You're lucky Duo heard about the attempt and they managed to stop them before you got any serious damage." Noin pushed her back against the pillows.

"What time is it?" Relena inquired importantly, beginning to sound like her normal self.

"Nearly 3:00 in the morning." Noin answered.

"But the colonies…I was heading there to give a speech." Relena gasped.

"Relena calm down! There was no conference for you to attend, it was all part of Oz's plot." Noin soothed.

Relena fell back against the pillow limply, "Nero really shot me?"

Horror suddenly became apparent on Noin's face "Who?"

"He called himself Nero Ein." Relena sighed, the pain beginning to come back.

"No." She heard Noin mutter.

Noin smiled, "You should get some rest Relena, but I'm sure you want to see the men who saved your life first?"

Relena nodded dully, and then they entered. Quatre, Trowa, and Heero. Wufei had apparently not come and Duo was still absent from the group.

"Miss Dorlian, I'm so relieved." Quatre cheerfully said.

"I, too, am glad you're alive." Trowa agreed.

Heero, as a man of few words, didn't speak. Instead he nodded and looked away from the battered sight before his eyes. She looked terrible in the hospital gown with a bandage over her chest and a pained expression on her face. But he didn't need to speak because everyone understood what he was saying by his body language, which he most likely thought he was hiding.

"Heero," She said assuringly, "You don't have to hide all of your feelings; we're all human. At least show some relief that I'm alive and can still lead the Sinq Kingdom."

His expression turned grave, "I can't."

"Why not?" Relena asked calmly.

"Because of my enemies, Relena." Heero replied coolly.

"Oz is hardly anything to worry about." Trowa spoke suddenly.

"Maybe." Heero stated.

"What do you mean?" Quatre asked.

But Heero remained silent with his hands tucked together dutifully behind his back and he nodded.

"Not even Millardo is a match for you." Relena replied to the unspoken question.

Heero simply ignored her.

"Miss Dorlian do you feel alright?" Quatre asked concerned.

Relena nodded, "I suppose so, though I still wish I could remember what happened."

Quatre nodded, "It wasn't an easy rescue, if Wufei hadn't shown up it would have been a lost cause. When we broke through the first wave of mobile dolls and boarded the spaceship you were on you had already been shot, but there was no one around to take the blame for the crime. Captain Sw'i came out and quickly surrendered to us telling us the entire story. I don't know how much we trust him, but he's our only lead. However, once we got you safely onboard with Noin he and his spaceship disappeared along with some of the mobile dolls. The remaining mobile dolls then began to fight us and we barely managed to get out alive. It had been over an hour since your ordeal and we were not very optimistic that you would survive…"

"But you did." Heero said in a monotone.

Relena looked at the 3 Gundam Pilots, "I'm very grateful."

"We had to stop Oz's attempt to kill you, you are the alliance's only hope of everlasting peace." Trowa bowed his head.

"That's not true!" Relena quickly blurted and then crumpled quietly against the pillow, "That's not true," She repeated less enthusiastically "Anyone could keep the alliance at peace."

"That's not how the people see it," Quatre explained, "Why do you think Oz would waist so much energy on your capture and execution?"

Relena was silent; she knew he was right.

"Oz thought your death might just weaken the alliance enough that they could defeat the peace you'd worked so hard to achieve." Heero stated.

"But Heero," He winced when Relena spoke his name, "What could Oz possibly gain by getting rid of peace?"

"I don't know." Heero replied honestly.

"Don't worry, Miss Dorlian, we'll stop Oz what ever their motives." Quatre assured her.

Relena nodded, "I hope so, I will lend whatever aid I can."

"You have finally seen the wisdom of my choice, Relena?" Heero asked.

"Yes." Relena replied simply. "Oz is an even bigger threat to the Sinq Kingdom than war."

Heero nodded, "But you still disagree."

"Yes I do, and Catherine does too, Trowa." Relena replied hotly.

"Don't bring her into this." Trowa answered calmly. "She has been through enough already."

"Yes, I heard." Relena looked at him. "She's fortunate you were there."

"She is indeed." Trowa replied coolly.

"We have to go, Miss Dorlian, Oz could regroup any moment." Quatre said suddenly.

Relena nodded and waved them out of the room, she could tell that they were relieved to get out of there, especially Heero, But she still hoped they had come to see her out of their own free will because they were relieved that she was alive, and not because someone told them to. Who could influence them anyway?


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Well his time school isn't the only thing interfering in my life. I don't really wanna go into detail, but I haven't spent much time on the computer. Thanks to Kami-Crimson andVitanie Tora for your informative reviews, always welcome. And now I suppose you'd like to read the story?

**Part 17**

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Noin smiled as they entered the hall.

"Yes." Heero said thoughtfully.

"Oh come on guys, she's glad that you care enough to come. If you hadn't she might have lost all will to survive because no one cares about her. Relena is a very individual person, she needs assurance from the people that she is needed or she feels that she is not needed." Noin explained.

Quatre nodded, "I've noticed that in the few times I've seen her."

"Relena must be pretty important if Wufei actually joined us on rescuing her." Noin offered.

Heero grunted and nodded, he didn't speak his thoughts because at that exact moment Duo showed up.

"She's still recovering?" Duo asked. "How's she doing?"

"Fine, Duo." Noin turned to look at him.

"How's Sally?" Trowa asked.

"Wufei's just lucky he knows the 'God of Death'." Duo smiled smugly.

"Or are you lucky you know him?" Trowa replied.

Duo's face fell, "What does that mean?"

No one replied, and Duo felt a little insulted but he dissolved his feelings and went about his business as if nothing had happened.

"Excuse me, sir?" A frightened young man hobbled up to the group shivering from nerves. "Are you here for Miss Dorlian?"

"Yes." Noin looked at him.

"I brought her…a gift…I wanted her to know I was glad…" He lost his grip on the package, and somehow it found its way into Heero's tight grip.

Heero looked at the package unapprovingly, but the man didn't realize it.

"We'll get it to her." Quatre said cheerfully sharing a glance with his comrades.

The man left, and worriedly Noin and the Gundam Pilots began to chat.

"The public knows!" Quatre bellowed angrily.

"Apparently." Heero agreed studying the package in his hands.

Noin grabbed it from him, "I'm not sure it's a bad thing. Relena needs to know that she is needed by the people."

Trowa and Quatre nodded.

"Perhaps we should take that to her." Trowa offered just as another man, older this time walked up with a gift.

"It's gonna be a long night." Duo looked at his friends.

"When do you suppose she'll be allowed to leave?" Quatre asked turning his attention to Noin.

"I don't know, I just wish Millardo were here to help her heal." Noin replied sadly.

"He is, in spirit." Quatre smiled.

Noin returned a watery smile, "She misses him; I know she does."

"Of course she does, it's hard to let go of family." Duo nodded knowingly.

"I'm not sure how Relena would react to all the attention if she found out the people knew she was dying." Heero glanced at the faces around him.

"Heero don't say that, Relena isn't dying!" Quatre said as soon as he saw the look of terror on Noin's face.

She took a deep breath and smiled at them, "Just a slip of the tongue I'm sure, nothing to worry about, Quatre, right, Heero?"

"Mmmm." Heero agreed his emotional barrier holding though he felt like crying.

"There's no guarantee that she'll live." Trowa explained, "After all not many people have survived a bullet from a gun as powerful as that one."

"Whoever hurt her should pay." Quatre clenched his fists angrily.

"You mean Nero Ein?" Noin asked.

The others gawked at her, "Who?" they asked in unison.

Noin turned away shamefully, "Back when Zechs and I were in the academy together he was an obscure classmate of ours. He kept to himself mostly, and Zechs and I were probably about the only ones who knew he even existed. He got high marks, but definitely not the highest of all the class; in fact he was hardly fit to be a fighter…back then. When we graduated e went on to get a job before pursuing his military career a few years later. By that time Zechs and I along with most of our graduating classmates were far up on the military rank ladder. We'd all been through several promotions for our skills. Nero was jealous and he took to sport killing many of his former classmates and impressing our superiors. No one stood a chance against his wrath, and through his seemingly new natural ability he quickly joined us in the high ranks. I'd lost track of him for several years though we used to keep in touch as often as possible our connection dissipated and we went our separate ways, until one day…the day Zechs joined Oz…and so did Nero. We were both equally fond of him, not very actually, though our superiors found him to be quite a talented man, however, not as much as Zechs or myself. He served in our shadow for far too long in his opinion, and I imagine that he took advantage of the situation when Zechs and I lost contact with Oz. Though I can't say for certain that Zechs did lose contact with them. He feels that I betrayed Oz by joining the Sinq Kingdom, and I imagine he will stop at nothing to ruin me…and that includes the murder of the Sinq leader."

"Relena!" Quatre gasped.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Noin suddenly sounded professional. "He should be ashamed of what he's done, Oz would never want Relena killed; she's much too valuable! This was sheer revenge against me. I've fueled his anger for so long, he finally found a way to destroy me."

"But what made him think that killing Relena would have an effect on you?" Duo asked.

Noin blushed, "Because…she's Zechs sister."

"Relena doesn't need to know, not yet anyway," Heero suddenly blurted.

Trowa looked at the others sullenly, "She'll find out on her own soon enough."

"Maybe." Heero agreed, "But…"

"We can't cause her more pain than she's already got." Noin pleaded, more for own sake than Relena's it seemed to the others.

"Are you certain she wouldn't want to be informed?" Trowa asked, "We don't want to make a bad choice."

"Trowa's right, we can't be certain it would actually cause her anymore pain. From the way you've made things sound Miss Noin it seems as if she would be happy to know that the people haven't forgotten her." Quatre tried to sound powerful.

Noin looked at her feet and slowly twisted her head into a nod.

"I'm leaving." Heero said suddenly.

The others stared at him as he left without a moment's hesitation.

"Oh sure leave us, lucky I got here." Duo called after him.

"So you're just going to leave us on our own?" Quatre asked sorrowfully.

Heero turned around momentarily to look at them, "Yes."

Noin nodded, Duo shook his fist, Trowa stood there, and Quatre's face continued to become angrier every moment.

"Someday, Heero." Quatre muttered under his breath, and strangely only Heero heard him.

Heero turned back questioningly, "Mmmm?" But he didn't get any response and so he walked on.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Well, it's been a while. Hopefully none of you have forgotten my story. Thanks to Kami-Crimson and Vitanie Tora for the reviews! Just so you know, Hilde may know something and she may not, I'm not gonna say what happens next. There's only 3 chapters left after this, so I hope you enjoy!

**Part 18**

After several long minutes Heero stopped and stared at the place he now found himself, "What am I doing here?"

The beach was unmistakable, this very beach where his entire mission began, the very beach where in front of a local girl he'd stolen an ambulance and headed into the sunset with one thing on his mind: Killing her.

"Well," He muttered in agitation, "At least someone tried to carry out my mission and kill her even if she survived. She's tougher than I originally thought…maybe that's why I couldn't kill her…she seemed too helpless…she was too helpless. Someday we're not going to be here to rescue her when her opinions get too out of hand, she's not as tough as Noin and the others think."

Heero was talking to himself, which he found frightening, but worse yet he had answered himself too. Was he really that independent, not to mention insane? He set the gift to Relena from the man in the hospital on the street and leaned against a wall behind him, the air smelled so fresh, he could hardly believe he hadn't taken the opportunity to take in the beach's full beauty in all the time the war had lasted. The only time he'd been here was the day he met Relena, and he regretted even coming then. He quickly grasped the gift tightly under his arms and continued on his way, this time with a set destination: His home. It had been a long time since he'd been there. For the past week, while Relena lay unconscious in her hospital bed, Noin had forced them to stay until she woke up with at least 1 person stationed in her room at all time. Now that she was awake, Heero doubted Noin would have any objections to his leaving; at least none that he was concerned with. He shoved his door closed behind him quickly, and what seemed like seconds later, though really it was an hour, someone began knocking on the door and Heero was forced to open it.

"Hilde?" He recognized her immediately, but why was she here?

"Duo told me you left the hospital, that is after he told me about everything else that happened; I must admit I was a little surprised that Miss Dorlian got hurt. They sent me to talk to you though I'm not quite sure about what…or what to say. Quatre seems confused, said he was completely baffled as to why you left." Hilde responded calmly.

"I don't feel like talking." Heero growled.

"Too bad, because I DO." Hilde giggled.

Heero groaned and then politely offered her something to drink, which she graciously accepted, and finding no way out of this Heero joined his companion seated at the kitchen table merrily drinking her soda.

"Heero, what's gotten into you?" Hilde asked, "Duo mentioned something about having to kill me if I ever interfered with his plans; you're a Gundam Pilot too, Relena interfered, why haven't you killed her?" Immediately she sensed that this was the wrong thing to say.

"She's not much of a threat." Heero tried to cover his rage, but a little of it sneaked through.

"Oz apparently thinks she is, and I know for a fact she calls you day and night trying to convince you it's not worth waging a war." Hilde gazed at him suspiciously, "So I sort of doubt that that's the reason."

"Well it is." Heero was becoming more annoyed.

Hilde nodded, "Really, then why do you hate talking about her or even being around her so much?"

"I don't." He countered.

"Then you like being around her?" She cocked her head in amusement.

"No." He countered.

"Then why did you leave so abruptly? I even think Noin is worried about you." Hilde giggled inaudibly.

Heero sighed, this was not the conversation he needed nor wanted to have. His plans had been to get comfortable for the rest of the day and then go off into space in search of Oz, as he was certain the others were going to do as well.

"Hilde you're annoying." He said abruptly.

She stared at him bewildered, "Excuse me? It wasn't my idea to come here."

"Maybe." He agreed.

"You're just annoyed that anyone is here keeping you occupied, aren't you?" She smiled mysteriously.

"Yes." He agreed.

"You're a very strange man, Heero, even more odd than Duo and that IS saying something." Hilde shook her head.

"Yes?" Heero said coldly, almost asking a question.

"You could at least ligten up when no one else is around, except maybe me." She offered.

"I can't." He answered in a monotone.

"Heero, that attitude of yours is gonna get you killed someday, or worse…" But she didn't say what the or worse was.

"Hilde, there are more important things than my life." He shot back.

"The colonies? The peace? Relena?" Hilde suggested.

"Yes." Heero didn't even blink as he responded.

"Relena?" She asked again cocking her head in wonder.

"No." He responded coldly.

"Come on, Heero, anything you tell me will remain absolutely confidential." Hilde flashed her trademark smile.

Heero sighed, "I have nothing to confess."

"I think you do," She gazed at him meaningfully, "But I can't MAKE you talk."

"It's my life, Hilde, not yours." He stared at the ground.

"So there is something?" She asked just as he stood up from his chair.

"Wait where are you going?" She asked.

"Nowhere." And he left.

"Heero!" It was freezing outside, well in Hilde's opinion.

"You want me to go back, so I am." He turned back sadly.

"What?" She was confused.

"Back to the hospital, I forgot to give Relena that man's gift to her." He clenched his teeth.

She nodded and turned around heading for the safety of her own home, and hoping Heero and the others would be able to find their own security.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Only 2 chapters left before the end. I can't believe we've made it this far, and considering there are over 4000 hits I know a bunch of you are still reading this. It's been a really weird January where I am; we actually got 4 inches of snow and a SNOW DAY! I know that to a lot of you that seems like nothing, but the last time I saw that much snow was 8 years ago. Thanks to Kami-Crimson for the fantabulous review, and I hope you all enjoy part 19.

**Part 19**

"Guys, we're coming up on the Oz base pretty fast, Heero what's our plan?" Quatre asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

Heero stared out his Gundam's window for several moments before answering, "Relena wasn't the only delegate they abducted, but she was the only one they tried to kill…they'll all be in there."

"And we have to get them out, right?" Duo laughed reading Heero's mind.

"Yes." Heero agreed.

"Is this really such a wise move?" Trowa asked suddenly.

"We don't have any other options." Quatre explained, "If we keep postponing this mission Oz could come back and they could actually kill her this time."

"I guess that's right." Duo agreed.

"I can see them." Quatre shouted over the roar of an explosion.

Apparently a battle was already going on, probably Sally's troops. They all shook their heads, she'd gotten there before them but her troops were failing.

"Let's take our chance to sneak by while they're occupied. We'll have a better chance of getting the hostages if we don't have to fight our way through." Trowa said thoughtfully.

"Ok, guys, let's contact each other as often as possible." Quatre said as they suddenly came in contact with the hull of the Oz ship.

No one answered him, but he knew they had agreed. That was how they communicated when they agreed…always. Perhaps it would have been better if they had been raised to think talking was better than they now felt it was, after all in many situations it would be very useful. He'd been the only one of the Gundam Pilot's who had ever been forced into a situation that required a lot of verbal negotiating, and that had been the incident with Dorothy and the zero program.

They all went separate ways; naturally they felt like being heroes alone, first to find the hostages gets the glory makes it much simpler. Quatre turned down the first corridor to their left, Duo down the first to their right, Trowa continued going forward, and Heero turned at the second corridor to their right.

"We should stay quite for a while, maybe they won't detect us as quickly." Duo offered.

"Half an hour?" Trowa asked.

"Unless we find something sooner." Heero reminded them.

"Of course." Duo replied.

Then there was silence.

They searched for more than an hour, and all of them broke their vow to contact the others after half an hour. Strangely, Oz had not discovered them; at least they hadn't interfered with the plans to rescue the delegates. Suddenly their communicators crackled to life and a familiar voice spoke up.

"Have any of you guys found anything?" Quatre asked.

"No." Heero was the first to reply.

"Not really." Duo followed his example.

"I've found…a map of the ship." Trowa said calmly continuing to inspect his copy of the ship's internal layout.

"Is it of any use?" Quatre questioned.

"The brig is along my path, I'll check it out. Quatre, you should be near crew quarters, Duo nothing interesting, and Heero you'll run into a dead end soon." Trowa warned them.

"Good idea." Duo smiled fortunate that they couldn't see him.

"There are also some empty storage rooms around you, Quatre." Trowa suddenly said, "You might try them. Section D2 is the closest to you from what you've told me."

"Understood." Quatre replied softly; suddenly aware that being near crew quarters was a very dangerous place to be. And he cut off his communicator.

The storage rooms were just as Trowa had described: empty, so was the brig. Heero's dead end had turned out to be a secret passageway, but behind that was nothing except a few walls to run into in the dark, which he did several times. He'd come out on the other end of the ship, but still he found nothing to suggest the presence of the hostages. The 'nothing interesting' for Duo had actually turned into exactly what they wanted to find, and as quickly as he reported his discovery the others were at his side aiding the hostages. They managed to all get into a launching bay of the ship near the gundams and had even stolen a small transport vessel, but something wasn't right. Oz hadn't even attempted to stop them from escaping or from anything for that matter, they could only hope it was due to the continuing battle outside and not something…else less pleasant such a spy among their group. All of them were recognizable figures in politics, modern medicine, history, science, it wasn't possible for them to be members of Oz…was it? They could only hope.

By the end of their rescue mission, the Gundam Pilots had received more thank-yous and grateful hugs than they needed in a lifetime; maybe even 2! They'd lost count after about the 50th one and were now considering ways to make restraining orders on the people.

"I still can't believe they came with us so willingly." Quatre commented.

"They didn't have a choice, it was either Oz or us." Duo explained.

"I suppose," Trowa shrugged, "I'm surprised we're letting them pilot the transport ship back to earth and the colonies by themselves."

"We're gundams, what're they gonna try?" Duo asked.

"They fear us," Heero explained, "They fear gundams that's why they won't try anything."

"They need to learn that we're not the people they should be afraid of." Quatre sighed.

"Yes, they need to learn, but that will take time." Heero added.

"What happens when Oz realizes we took their hostages…not to mention their transport ship?" Trowa asked his companions.

"I dunno, but I have a feeling we're gonna find out." Duo chuckled.

"Why do you say that?" Quatre asked him.

"Because I know Oz, we all do." Duo replied.

"Mmmm." Heero sighed.

"You wanna know something?" Duo asked.

"Ok, Duo." They replied.

"Now I'm positive we're gonna find out." Duo was stalling.

"What do you mean?" Trowa asked, and then they all turned to where Duo was looking.

A small fleet of mobile suits.

"Looks like we've got problems on our hands." Duo said sharply.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Guys I am so sorry! I completely forgot to update, I'd think of it but never do it. The last 2 months have been so messed up and stressful, but it's better now. I was sick for like 3 weeks and i'm not sure I'm completely better even a month later. And choir has taken up tons of my time, we had our UIL contest yesterday and got the highest possible score we could get! Yay go us! Let's not even go into the rest of school. Of course, I absolutely ADORE reviews and I'd love to thank Kami-Crimson for the adorable (hehe, funny pun) review! As always if you catch any mistakes or have ANY criticism please review and let me know. Reviewers are the thing that makes the world go round. I went a year without updating this story when I had no reviews, and I can make you wait forever for the last chapter. Now you don't want that do you? No? Now without any further threats I present to you chapter 20.

**Part 20**

"You guys make sure the hostages get back to earth safely, I can handle the mobile suits!" Duo commanded as they rushed to battle.

"That's true, there aren't very many." Quatre commented. "But Duo I'm worried you won't make it."

"No sweat, I'm the 'God of Death'" He suddenly lashed out at one the suits and after a momentary pause it exploded with a thundering BOOM!

"Come on guys, we have to leave this one with Duo." Heero headed to protect the transport.

"It's better if we all stay and fight while they try to break away; there's a better chance of everyone getting out alive that way." Trowa suggested.

"Mmmm." Heero thought for a moment and then turned back to his former location. "We're all staying to help you Duo."

"I wonder if we'll run into the new Oz leader?" Duo thought aloud.

"I doubt it, but you never know." Quatre replied.

"Or what about that Neero Ein character?" Duo asked.

"From what Noin said I wouldn't put it past him." Trowa commented.

"Seriously?" Duo asked.

Trowa nodded.

"Well that wouldn't be too good, he sounds like a decent fighter." Duo sighed.

"Duo we need to concentrate on the battle, Heero has." Quatre stopped him from saying anything more.

"I wondered why he wasn't talking." Duo smiled.

In the jumbled field of debris left by the mobile suits that had been destroyed in the short battle a single mobile suit, more advanced than the others, emerged. But it didn't shoot, it didn't attack, and it definitely didn't fear the gundams. Perhaps it realized the lost cause, after all the transport had safely made it away from the battle. Duo stared at the mobile suit something seemed…familiar. The other 3 gundams began to close in on the lone target.

"Wait!" Duo commanded.

"What's going on, Duo?" Quatre asked.

"I think I…know that pilot. The style of fighting seems…familiar." Duo paused mid-sentence and began to ponder exactly what he had said.

"Well even if you do, it's heading straight toward you, and I wouldn't want to take any chances!" Heero said calmly.

"He's not going to hurt me…" Duo hoped, "I think. Not yet anyway, he's going to establish his identity first."

"Are you certain?" Trowa asked.

"Positive…well not completely positive, but I'm pretty sure…" Duo answered.

"Duo don't take any unnecessary chances!" Quatre shouted, it seemed like his friend wasn't hearing him when he just talked.

"I'm not…and I won't." Duo chuckled, "The war has just begun, I don't think it would be good for any of us, especially me, to be killed right at the start."

Heero was less willing to talk and he moved closer to the mobile suit, who in turn became slightly more defensive.

"Heero, don't! Give this guy a chance to explain himself." Duo begged.

"I don't trust that suit!" Heero exclaimed.

"He's not after you," Duo explained, "He only wants to talk to me…and then maybe kill me."

"Why?" Trowa asked.

"Because…I know him…" Duo began, but suddenly a new voice filled his gundam suit.

"Hello Corey." The man in the other suit said.

"Hey bro, long time no see!" Duo called excitedly.

The others listened in stunned silence, Duo had a brother?

"So you've become a gundam pilot?" He asked.

"Yup, you know this could've been you if you weren't such a terrible fighter when we were kids." Duo chuckled. "So what do you call yourself now, Duo?"

"Well since you forced me to run away from home…" He began.

"What? I never 'forced' you to run away, you did that part on your own." Duo was stunned.

"I've changed my name to…" He continued, but he was interrupted.

"Neero Ein!" Quatre inferred.

"Yes, but who are you?" Neero asked.

"Oh I'd almost forgotten to introduce you." Duo had been slightly startled by Quatre's sudden intrusion. "You may have guessed, but he's a fellow Gundam Pilot. No need to give a name, I'm sure you know one already."

"Just to let you know, dear Corey, I have a rather large mobile doll army headed our way and I don't think you have much chance of survival." Neero laughed maniacally.

"Yeah, that's probably because you didn't know I'd be here." Duo commented.

"The 'God of Death' doesn't care whether his brother will be killed or not, Corey!" Neero screeched.

"That's my nickname!" Duo accused.

"Suits me just fine." Neero replied.

"Well there's only one true 'God of Death', me!" Duo smiled.

"That smile doesn't suit you, Corey." Neero snarled.

And then a VERY large fleet of mobile dolls came into the picture.

"I'd love to continue this discussion now, but I'm afraid I've run out of time. I do hope we meet again, Corey, Gundams." And Neero left.

"Duo, we've got a problem!" Trowa was the first to recover from the discussion between Duo and…Duo?

"We can't possibly defeat this many!" Quatre said with no show of optimism.

"Anyone want to try?" Duo asked.

"Yes." Heero answered.

"Until we can be sure the transport made it safely back to earth we have no choice." Quatre agreed.

And Trowa took the cue to launch a full battle on the giant mobile doll army.

"Goodbye, Duo." Duo called after his brother, but he was long gone.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N:** It's hard to believe, but this is the last chapter of the story I wrote 2 years ago. Hopefully I'll be writing more and even better. Keep your eyes peeled on my profile as you never know when a new story might just pop out of nowhere. It's been so great getting your feedback and finally getting to put up the rest of this story. To any of my readers out there who aspire to be great authors, I encourage you to do the best you possibly can and never give up trying on anything you do, be it writing or finding your place in this strange world. A giant thanks to Kami-Crimson, Inukag44, Vitanie Tora, and HevenSentHellBroke for the overwhelmingly uplifting reviews you left me to read over the last few months while I worked through some really busy times. And, above all, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you moms and future moms out there. You are what make the world go round. Love to all, and, for the last time, I hope you enjoy part 21.

**Part 21**

Duo had forgotten all about his brother for those years after his training with the scientist. He'd forgotten all about his brother's attempt to steal the Gundam a few days before operation meteor started. He'd forgotten the fact that he wasn't an only child. He'd forgotten how hard it was to stop being Corey Maxwell and to become Duo Maxwell. And he'd forgotten that his brother had run away a few weeks after Corey became him.

The truth was that Duo had wanted to forget because those were the worst years of his life; the day he'd lost his brother had been…hard if nothing else. He'd tried so hard to help his brother, Duo…yet he'd had to let him go, and now he was back. Duo had been poked and prodded ever since the encounter with his brother by his friends about…the truth. They weren't even sure what to call him anymore. He tried to tell them that he was in all actuality Duo now, that he'd stopped being Corey all those years ago. And Duo didn't understand why they were so mad at him for lying, they all did it…they had no choice. Trowa didn't know who he was either.

"There's going to be an Oz meeting on this colony." Quatre pointed to a location on his star map.

"Neero will be there." Duo said.

"What makes you so sure?" Trowa asked.

"He's the leader of Oz," Duo explained, "And that means…he has to be killed."

"Duo, you don't have to come along on this mission." Quatre offered.

"No, I'm going alone, he's my brother and my responsibility." Duo said solemnly.

"You won't be able to kill him." Heero told him.

"Why not?" Duo asked, but Heero didn't reply.

"You can go alone if you need to." Heero said finally. "We'll stay here, after all this may be a false alarm to get us to go there."

"Oz isn't THAT good at planning ahead." Quatre stated.

"Mmmm," Heero agreed, "But we don't know how Neero thinks."

"I do." Duo sighed, "I'm the only one who ever paid attention to those details about him."

"And?" Trowa asked.

"He always thinks ahead." Duo shrugged, "…always."

"Then we should definitely remain here and wait for word of anything else going on, Duo…you'll be on your own." Quatre said.

"I know," Duo said cheerfully, "But I can do it."

"Fellow Oz members, we need a plan!" A man on a podium at the front of the very large auditorium was saying, "Our last failed because those idiotic Gundam Pilots couldn't keep to their own business!"

Duo was standing on a balcony near the center of the room, but the booming voice of the man still rung loudly in his ears.

"Hello, Corey." Came a voice from behind him.

Duo turned around and frantically tried not to fall off the balcony in surprise.

Neero came and stood next to him, looking down at the man giving the long speech. "Sw'i is a very persuasive man, I'm sure he'll find a good plan."

Duo stared at him.

"I'm surprised that you got in, Corey. Though I guess you Gundam Pilots are very skilled people. What brings you here?" Neero gave him a very toothy grin. "You're here to kill me aren't you? Well go ahead it won't do you any good."

"Why do you say that?" Duo asked.

"Because I know you very well, brother." Neero answered sadly.

"That doesn't sound like something you'd say, bro." Duo responded.

"True, I've changed. Commanding Oz forces does that to you, now if you don't mind let's get this over with before I bring in my troops

to kill you." Neero glared at him icily.

"You're not gonna fight for your life?" Duo was a little disappointed.

"No." Neero replied, "You know you've changed too. It wasn't too long ago that you'd have given anything to join the rebels."

"I never wanted to join Oz, Duo." Duo said icily.

"I remember when you did, I'm sure our foster families would be so proud of you." Neero looked at him. "Well go ahead."

Shakily Duo tried to kill him, but, Heero was right, he couldn't do it. And then accidentally he dropped the gun, and it went off. No one

down below appeared to hear the noise it created, and Neero seemed very pleased that it hadn't missed him.

But he was…laughing?

"Corey," He said, "This isn't the end; I will be back."

Duo turned around, he hadn't meant to do that. But his brother was not breathing, he'd checked. Duo Maxwell was dead, and Corey

Maxwell was free to continue with his assumed identity…he was free to be his brother. And, though the war was not over, nothing stood

in his way.


End file.
